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[   WAX  PORTRAITS  [ 
|   ^ SILHOUETTES  | 

By  ETHEL  STANWOOD  BOLTON 


With  an  Introduction  by 
CHARLES    HENRY    HART,  Esq^ 


Second  Edition  ■ 


BOSTON  | 

|       THE  MASSACHUSETTS  SOCIETY  OF  THE 
COLONIAL  DAMES  OF  AMERICA 
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INTRODUCTION 

This  little  brochure  on  Wax  Portraits  and  Silhou- 
ettes, which  I  have  had  the  privilege  of  reading  in 
proof,  merits  the  reception  and  approbation  that  should 
be  accorded  to  every  serious  work  in  a  new  field  of 
investigation.  It  is  true  that  Mrs.  Bolton  had  very 
fallow  ground  to  plow  in,  but  then  it  is  not  every  one 
who  recognizes  the  richness  of  the  soil  and  knows  how 
deep  to  furrow  to  get  the  best  results  out  of  the  un- 
touched field.  This  applies  especially  to  the  first  part 
on  Wax  Portraits,  for,  while  Silhouettes  have  been 
written  upon  more  or  less,  Wax  Portraits,  as  far  as  I 
know,  have  received  but  scant  attention  abroad  and 
none  at  all  here.  This  treatise,  therefore,  is  a  most 
valuable  contribution  to  the  artistic  life  in  this  coun- 
try, presenting  in  a  thorough  manner  for  preservation 
the  history  of  the  work  of  the  wax  modellers  in  the 
United  States ;  and  as  our  pioneer  in  making  wax  por- 
traits was  a  colonial  woman,  Patience  Lovell  Wright, 
it  is  most  appropriate  that  the  pioneer  history  of  these 
little  gems  should  come  from  the  Colonial  Dames  of 
America. 

CHARLES    HENRY   HART. 
Philadelphia,  May,  1914. 

3 


207645 


PREFACE 

The  following  pages  are  the  outcome  of  a  talkgiven 
before  the  Massachusetts  Society  of  the  Colonial 
Dames,  at  the  rooms  of  the  Society  for  the  Preserva- 
tion of  New  England  Antiquities.  The  latter  Society 
exhibited,  under  the  direction  of  Dwight  M.  Prouty, 
Esq.,  a  most  interesting  collection  of  wax  portraits, 
silhouettes,  and  miniatures  during  the  winter  months 
of  1 9 13-14,  and  that  exhibition  made  possible  this 
sketch.  My  thanks  are  especially  due  to  Mrs.  Barrett 
Wendell,  who  encouraged  my  present  undertaking ;  to 
Mr.  Charles  Henry  Hart  of  Philadelphia,  who  has 
given  me  many  facts,  and  called  my  attention  to  such 
scattered  literature  as  has  been  written  upon  both  sub- 
jects; to  Mrs.  William  H.  Whitridge  and  Mrs.  Fran- 
cis T.  Redwood  of  Baltimore,  and  to  others  mentioned 
in  the  notes.  Especially  I  would  offer  my  grateful 
acknowledgments  to  those  who  have  been  so  kind  as  to 
allow  me  to  copy  their  treasures  for  the  illustrations. 

£.  S.  B. 

Pound  Hill  Place 
Shirley,  Mass. 


WAX    PORTRAITS 


j^g^^^gUHE  art  of  modelling  in  wax  is  so 
old  that  it  has  come  down  to  us 
from  a  past  that  is  beyond  his- 
tory. The  ease  with  which  wax 
can  be  worked  has  insured  its  use 


throughout  the  ages,  and  its  charm  is  ever  the 
same  to  all  generations.  In  the  dim  times  of  the 
past  the  Egyptian  often  modelled  a  deity  in  wax 
to  accompany  him  on  the  journey  after  death, 
and  to  comfort  his  soul.  So,  too,  the  Greek  made 
wax  gods  for  his  religious  rites  and  wax  dolls 
for  his  children's  play.  Later  the  Romans  made 
wax  masks  of  their  ancestors — imagines — to  be 
carried  in  thefuneral  procession.  Only  the  nobles 
had  the  jus  imaginum,  or  right  to  carry  these  wax 
impressions.  The  connection  of  the  idea  of  the 
wax  figure  and  religious  rite  persisted  long  after 
Roman  time,  for  in  the  middle  ages  many  wax 
figures  were  used  as  votive  offerings  in  the 
churches.   The  old  Roman  idea  in  its  entirety 


8  WAX    PORTRAITS 

continued  through  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  so  that 
it  was  no  uncommon  thing  for  a  wax  image  of 
the  dead  to  be  borne  among  the  mourners.  The 
wax  form  of  Queen  Elizabeth  herself,  which  was 
carried,  dressed  in  state  robes,  in  her  funeral 
train,  is  still  preserved  in  Westminster  Abbey. 
When  at  last  the  Renaissance  blossomed  over 
Italy,  modelling  in  wax  was  one  of  the  arts  which 
bloomed  also,  for  the  great  sculptors  used  that 
medium  for  many  of  their  masterpieces. 

Modelling  in  wax  has  always  been  done  for  one 
of  two  reasons,  either  as  a  means  to  an  end  or  as 
an  end  in  itself.  During  the  Renaissance,  doubt- 
less, wax  was  used  for  both  reasons,  but  more 
often  as  a  means  to  an  end.  The  bronze  medal- 
lions of  Pisano  owe  their  delicacy  to  the  fact  that 
they  were  first  modelled  in  wax.  In  addition  to 
the  work  done  by  the  medallists,  cameo  cutters, 
and  modellers  of  coins,  even  sculptors  themselves 
used  wax  first,  as  a  means  of  developing  an  idea. 
Wax  is  most  subtly  and  exquisitely  responsive,  for 
every  minutest  touch  can  be  recorded  upon  it, 


>\  >  »    »» 


,•••»,?•     ' ,-  "  * 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 
Patience  W 'right 

OWNED  BY   DR.   RICHARD  H.   HARTE,  PHILADELPHIA 


AND    SILHOUETTES 


and  the  touch  once  made  is  immortalized  as  long 
as  the  wax  survives. 

Waxes  are  so  frail,  are  so  subject  to  the  action 
of  heat  and  cold,  that  not  many  of  the  earlier 
groups  and  portraits  have  come  down  to  us  intact. 
Mr.  Lewis  Harcourt,  in  England,  has  made  a 
large  collection.  They  might  be  roughly  grouped 
in  three  classes,  statuettes,  allegorical  subjects, 
and  portraits  in  relief.  The  first  class,  statuettes, 
has  less  interest  for  us  here  in  America,  since  we 
have  done  nothing  of  this  nature  and  so  have  no 
means  of  comparing  our  work  with  theirs.  The 
secondclass,  allegorical  figures  in  relief,  has  many 
examples  in  England.  The  greatest  artist  in  this 
kind  of  work  was  Flaxman,  many  of  whose  sub- 
jects were  afterwards  translated  into  pottery  by 
Wedgwood  for  his  jasper  ware.  Flaxman  also 
made  many  portraits  which  were  put  to  the  same 
use.  He  had  worked  in  wax  from  childhood  and, 
like  Ball  Hughes  later,  he  never  abandoned  the 
art. 

It  is  the  third  class,  portraits,  with  which  this 


IO  WAX    PORTRAITS 

sketch  is  mostly  concerned.  The  earliest  English 
portrait  known  is  abeautifulone  of  King  James  I, 
which  was  done  by  Allesandro  Abondio,  the 
younger,  an  Italian  who  flourished  between  1550 
and  1650.  Another  sixteenth  century  wax  por- 
trait modeller  was  Leone  Leoni,  who  left  us  a 
portrait  bust  of  his  friend,  Michael  Angelo. 

In  France  the  oldest  and  most  interesting  wax 
portraits  are  those  by  Francois  Clouet,  which  are 
now  preserved  in  the  Cluny  Museum.  Following 
him  came  GuillaumeDupre  and  AntoineBenoits. 
The  latter  was  then  the  best  exponent  of  an  art 
which  had  attained  such  importance  that  during 
the  time  of  Louis  XIV  he  was  appointed  unique 
sculpteur  en  cire  couleur  to  the  French  king. 

From  the  time  of  Abondio  till  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century  the  modelling  of  relief  groups 
and  portraits  had  great  vogue  throughout  Europe. 
These  waxes  are  of  many  kinds,  as  each  man 
seems  to  have  been  his  own  arbiter  in  method 
and  coloring.  Giorgio  Vasari,  the  chronicler  of 
Italian  painters,  writes  of  the  mediaeval  method 


LUCY  LORD  DUTCH 

John  Christian  Rauschner 

OWNED  BY   MRS.   FRANCES  GILMAN,  PORTLAND,  ME. 


AND    SILHOUETTES  II 

of  preparing  the  wax  for  use:  "To  render  softer, 
a  little  animal  fat  and  turpentine  and  black  pitch 
are  put  into  the  wax,  and  of  these  ingredients  it 
is  the  fat  that  makes  it  more  supple,  the  turpentine 
adds  tenacity,  and  the  pitch  gives  it  a  black  color 
and  consistency,  so  that  after  it  has  been  worked 
and  left  to  stand  it  will  become  hard."  He  says 
that  colors  can  be  ground,  sifted,  and  mixed  with 
wax  when  made  as  liquid  as  possible.  White  wax 
can  be  made  with  white  lead,  "  nor  shall  I  conceal 
that  modern  artists  have  discovered  the  method 
of  working  in  all  sorts  of  colors,  so  that  in  taking 
portraits  from  life,  in  half  relief,  they  make  the 
flesh  tints,  the  hair,  and  all  so  lifelike  that  tfiese 
figures  lack  nothing  but  speech." x 

Many  portraits  were  done,  as  Flaxman's  alle- 
gorical figures  were,  in  white  wax.  But  white 
was  not  always  used,  for  there  is  in  Mr.  Har- 
court's  collection  a  beautifully  modelled  one  of 
William  Pitt  in  pink,  done  by  Peter  Rouw.   This 

'Wax  Portraiture;  Teall.  American  House  and  Garden  Maga- 
zine, August,  19x3. 


12  WAX    PORTRAITS 

same  Peter  Rouw  was  the  best  of  the  English 
artists,  with  the  possible  exception  of  S.  Percy. 
Others  of  this  same  period  were  G.  G.  Adams  and 
R.  G.  Lucas.  Lucas  dispensed  with  the  glass  or 
slate  background  which  had  been  common  at  an 
earlier  date ;  and  he  also  made  his  portraits  larger 
than  the  others.  These  four  men  ended  the  bril- 
liant period  of  the  art  in  England;  those  who 
came  after  in  the  Victorian  era,  while  they 
modelled  with  simplicity  and  considerable  feel- 
ing for  beauty,  yet  lacked  absolute  mastery  of  the 
method. 

During  the  best  period  of  this  art  in  England 
an  American  was  doing  her  share  to  make  it 
notable;  and  it  is  a  great  pleasure  to  feel  that  wax 
portraiture  in  America  had  so  striking  a  person- 
ality connected  with  its  early  history  as  that  of 
Patience  Wright,  our  second  American  artist, 
a  sculptor  in  wax. 

Patience  Lovell  was  born  in  1725,  just  five 
years  after  the  birth  of  our  first  American  artist, 
James  Claypool,  "face  painter,"  in  Philadelphia. 


REV.  EPHRAIM  WARD 
John  Christian  Rauschner 

OWNED    BY    CLAYTON    C.    HALL,   ESQ,. ,   BALTIMORE 


MRS.    MARY    (COLEMAN)    WARD 
"John  Christian  Rauschner 

OWNED    BY    CLAYTON    C.    HALL,   ESQ^. ,    BALTIMORE 


AND    SILHOUETTES  13 

She  lived  at  Bordentown,  New  Jersey,  with  her 
Quaker  parents,  and  there  in  1748  she  married 
Joseph  Wright.  She  had  in  early  life  modelled 
in  putty,  dough,  or  any  other  pliable  material 
that  she  could  find.  So  when  she  waslef  t  a  widow 
in  1769,  with  three  children  to  support,  she  began 
to  model  portrait  heads  in  wax.  Her  talent  is  the 
more  remarkable  because  she  had  never  had 
the  opportunity  to  see  sculptured  art  at  all,  nor 
were  her  Quaker  surroundings  such  as  to  entice 
her  into  those  fields.  Her  likenesses  were  so 
clever  that  her  fame  soon  spread  beyond  her  own 
locality.  In  1772,  she  and  her  children  went  to 
London,  where  she  immediately  became  the  rage. 
Her  skill  was  so  great  that  Horace  Walpole  wrote 
that  "Lady  Aylesbury  literally  spoke  to  a  waxen 
figure  of  a  housemaid  in  the  room."  Mrs.  Wright 
made  many  of  her  models  life  size  and  in  the 
round.  The  English  periodicals  gave  her  high 
praise  andcalled  herthe  "Promethean  modeller." 
One  of  them  adds:  "Her  likenesses  of  the  king, 
queen,  Lords  Chatham  and  Temple,   Messrs. 


14  WAX    PORTRAITS 

Barre,  Wilkes,  and  others,  attracted  universal 
admiration.  Her  natural  abilities  are  surpassing, 
and  had  a  liberal  and  extensive  education  been 
added  to  her  innate  qualities  she  would  have 
been  a  prodigy.  She  has  an  eye  of  that  quick  and 
brilliant  water  that  it  penetrates  and  darts  through 
the  person  it  looms  on,  and  practice  has  made  her 
so  capable  of  distinguishing  the  character  and 
disposition  of  her  visitors  that  she  is  very  rarely 
mistaken,  even  in  a  minute  point  of  manners; 
much  more  so  in  the  general  cast  of  character."1 
We  are  told  that  she  did  most  of  her  modelling 
with  her  thumb  and  forefinger.  To  an  English- 
man, her  full-length  portrait  of  Lord  Chatham 
would  be  the  most  interesting  example  of  her 
work.  It  found  a  place  in  Westminster  Abbey 
after  his  death,  and  represents  him  standing  in 
his  official  robes. 

When  the  Revolution  broke  out,  Mrs.  Wright, 
being  a  hot-headed  rebel  who  could  not  easily 

^he  London  Magazine  contains  a  cut  of  Mrs.  Wright  seated 
holding  a  miniature  bust  of  a  man. 


REV.   ASA  EATON,  S.T.D. 

John  Christian  Rauschner 

OWNED   BY   CHRIST  CHURCH,  BOSTON 


AND    SILHOUETTES  1$ 

hold  her  tongue,  was  not  as  popular  in  high  circles 
as  before.  She  continued,  however,  to  live  in 
England,  although  "with  a  full  purpose  of  mind" 
to  settle  her  affairs  and  return  to  America.  Her 
son  Joseph  had  already  returned  and  was  making 
marked  use  of  his  mother's  lessons  in  wax  model- 
ling to  design  our  first  coins.  In  1775  she  exe- 
cuted a  relievo  of  Franklin,  which  Wedgwood 
made  into  one  of  his  basaltic  medallions ;  but  a 
life-size  bust  of  Franklin  that  she  made  was  un- 
fortunately broken  to  pieces.  Perhaps  the  most 
interesting  portrait  to  Americans  is  her  relief  of 
Washington  in  white  wax.  It  has  not  the  author- 
ity of  a  life  portrait,  for  it  was  done  from  her  son 
Joseph's  clay  bust,  which  was  sent  to  her  in  Eng- 
land. The  wonderful  fact  about  this  wax  is,  that 
she  has  modelled  from  another's  work  a  portrait 
which  surpasses  the  original  both  in  workman- 
ship and  in  the  conception  of  the  character  of 
the  man.1 

xThe  profile  of  Washington  is  9  1-2  inches  high,  6  inches  wide, 
modelled  in  high  relief  of  white  wax,  now  yellow.  It  is  owned  by 
R.  H.  Harte,  M.D.,  of  Philadelphia. 


16  WAX    PORTRAITS 

Patience  Wright  died  in  London,  March  25, 
1786,  leaving  one  daughter,  Phoebe,  in  England, 
married  to  John  Hoppner,  the  famous  artist;  a 
son,  Joseph,  in  America,  who  won  fame  and  name 
for  himself  as  a  painter  and  as  the  designer  of 
our  first  coins ;  and  a  daughter,  Elizabeth,  wife 
of  Ebenezer  Piatt,  who  had  some  of  her  mother's 
cleverness  in  modelling  in  wax.1 

As  we  turn  from  Patience  Wright  and  her 
brilliant  career,  we  feel  a  little  as  if  we  had  left 
dry  land  to  wander  across  a  fog-blown,  marshy 
stretch,  wondering,  while  a  little  fear  creeps  into 
the  back  of  our  mind,  whether  or  no  we  are  on 
safe  ground,  and  whether  we  are  going  toward 
home.  The  information  about  our  latter-day 
artists  is  so  vague  that  with  a  single  exception 
we  hesitate  to  make  very  definite  statements. 
The  drop  from  the  clever  artists  of  the  late  eight- 
eenth century  to  those  of  the  early  nineteenth 
is  somewhat  sharp.    What  Mrs.  Wright  did  by 

^ee  Patience  Wright,  Modeller  in  Wax;  by  Charles  Henry  Hart, 
in  the  Connoisseur,  Vol.  XIX,  page  18. 


LEONARD   KIP,  OF  KIP   S  BAY 

John  Christian  Rauscbner 

OWNED   BY    REV.    LEONARD   KIP  STORRS,   D.D.,   BROOKLINE 


AND    SILHOUETTES  17 

genius  and  her  clear  white  wax  and  modelled 
shadows  they  tried  to  do  with  less  skill  and  by 
calling  in  color  to  carry  them  over  their  diffi- 
culty in  modelling.  They  had  skill  in  outline, 
and  doubtless  their  profiles  were  accurate  and 
lifelike,  but  their  modelling  shows  rather  the 
skill  of  the  craftsman  than  the  genius  of  the 
artist.  Their  work  was  often  done  in  lower  relief 
than  Mrs.  Wright's,  and  shows  less  skill  in  the 
modelling  of  the  facial  muscles.  Nevertheless 
the  portraits  are  fascinating,  and  call  back  for  us 
a  time  that  is  gone.  The  ladies  are  all  so  genteel 
in  their  dotted  muslin  gowns,  their  hair  done  up 
with  combs,  or  covered  with  queer  mobcaps. 
And  each  lady  has  some  favorite  ring  or  brooch 
infacsimile  upon  herflnger  or  in  her  dress.  Curls 
are  there  in  infinite  variety,  coyly  hanging  before 
the  ear  or  more  obviously  upon  the  forehead. 
The  gentlemen,  too,  are  bedight  in  their  best, 
with  their  black  or  brown  coat  and  stock.  Some 
wore  frills  and  some  wore  neckcloths  with  long 
ends.   On  the  projecting  end  of  one  can  still  be 


l8  WAX    PORTRAITS 

seen  the  finger  or  thumb  print  of  the  modeller. 
They  are  very  attractive. 

One  man  who  seems  to  have  wandered  all  over 
the  eastern  side  of  our  country  in  the  early  years 
of  the  nineteenth  century  was  John  Christian 
Rauschner,  a  Dane.  Mr.  Felt  in  his  annals  of 
Salem  has  a  paragraph  marked  "Wax  portraits," 
in  which  he  says:  "  1809,  J-  C  Rauschner  forms 
these  in  Salem.  Such  talent  has  received  but  little 
favor,  because  other  modes  accomplish  its  object 
withgreaterconvenienceand satisfaction."  With- 
out calling  Mr.  Felt's  accuracy  into  question,  we 
should  yet  doubt  whether  he  was  entirely  right, 
as  the  Essex  Institute  contains  at  least  nine  of 
his  wax  miniature  portraits.  One  of  particular 
interest  is  a  family  group,  mounted  as  usual  on 
glass  painted  a  light  seal  brown  on  the  outer 
surface.  Inside  the  oval  frame  are  mounted  the 
five  members  of  the  Lang  family,  the  father, 
Nathaniel  Lang,  at  the  top,  and  with  his  wife 
and  three  children  forming  an  oval  of  portraits. 
"Lang  1 8 10"  is  painted  in  the  center  in  aGerman- 


J.    WEPHOUS    CURIGER 
George  M.  Miller 

BLOOMFIELD   MOORE  COLLECTION,  PHILADELPHIA 


AND    SILHOUETTES  19 

like  script.  The  wax  of  Rauschner's  portraits  is 
colored  all  the  way  through,  according  to  the 
mediaeval  receipt,  and  only  the  small  parts,  like 
the  eyes,  eyebrows,  and  slight  shadows,  are 
painted  in.  The  fact  that  the  color  was  continu- 
ous throughout  is  very  visible  in  the  wax  of  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Barnard,  of  the  North  Church, 
Salem,  which  in  the  Essex  Institute  copy  is  broken 
at  the  neck,  so  that  the  composition  of  the  wax 
can  be  seen.  This  portrait  of  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Barnard  brings  up  a  very  interesting  matter,  for 
in  Salem  there  are  two  of  him  exactly  alike. 
Rauschner  boarded  while  he  was  in  Salem  with 
the  family  of  Daniel  Dutch.  Deputy  Sheriff 
Dutch  was  a  picturesque  character  who  went 
about  as  long  as  he  lived  in  small-clothes, 
probably  the  last  man  to  wear  them  in  Salem. 
Rauschner  modelled  portraits  of  the  whole 
family,  perhaps  to  eke  out  his  board,  if  what 
Felt  says  of  his  popularity  was  true.  The  one  of 
Mrs.  Dutch  is  still  preserved  in  Portland;  but 
more  interesting  than  the  portrait  itself  is  a  mould 


20  WAX    PORTRAITS 

of  it  which  is  in  Concord,  and  which  explains  the 
method  of  duplication  of  Dr.  Barnard's  portrait. 
This  mould  is  four  and  a  half  inches  high  by  two 
and  three  quarters  wide,  covered  on  the  inside 
with  a  brownish  yellow  paint.  It  appears  to  be 
made  of  plaster  of  Paris.  Within  is  an  intaglio 
of  the  lady,  with  her  fine  features,  double  chin, 
and  cap.  The  folds  of  her  muslin  short-sleeved 
dress  are  quite  visible.  After  the  wax  had  been 
pressed  into  the  mould  color  by  color  and  re- 
moved, the  modeller  then  added  the  little  touches 
of  lace,  of  flower,  of  comb,  ring,  and  jewelled 
ornament.  Mrs.  Dutch  was  Lucy  Lord  of  Ips- 
wich, who  married  first  Aaron  Staniford,  and 
later  Daniel  Dutch.  All  the  portraits  but  the  one 
of  Mrs.  Dutch  were  melted  in  a  slight  fire  in 
the  Dutch  house.  Neither  portrait  of  the  Salem 
dames  had  jewelled  combs  or  brooches,  but 
Mrs.  Dutch's  cap  was  garnished  with  real  lace 
and  Mrs.  Lang  had  a  real  lace  guimpe. 

So  it  seems  that  Rauschner  at  least  used  a 
mechanical  means  to  furnish  duplicates  of  such 


AND    SILHOUETTES  21 

of  his  work  as  was  likely  to  be  in  demand,  as  in 
the  case  of  Dr.  Barnard,  whose  portrait  admiring 
parishioners  would  wish  to  buy.  Perhaps  in  some 
fortunate  time  a  cache  of  Rauschner's  moulds 
may  be  discovered  as  Edouart's  duplicate  silhou- 
ettes were  found,  and  then  we  may  see  many 
whose  original  waxes  have  yielded  to  time. 

Mrs.  John  Pierce,  who  was  Mary  Bates  of  Bos- 
ton, wears  in  her  wax  image  a  semblance  of  a 
brooch  and  ring  which  her  descendants  own 
and  cherish  to  this  day.  The  use  of  seed  pearls 
was  very  common  through  all  the  later  history 
of  the  art.  Perhaps  the  best  examples  are  in 
the  Boston  Art  Museum,  where  the  wax  of 
Mrs.  Johann  Christian  Gottlieb  Graupner  fairly 
shines  with  them.  And  Our  Lady  of  the  Ruff, 
also  in  the  Museum,  and  of  a  much  earlier  date, 
is  equally  resplendent. 

The  portraits  by  Rauschner  which  are  here 
illustrated  are  both  interesting  examples  of  his 
work.  The  Rev.  Asa  Eaton,  for  many  years  rector 
of  Christ  Church  on  Salem  Street,  gathered  a 


22  WAX    PORTRAITS 

congregation  of  eight  hundred  about  him,  and 
was  the  first  to  start  a  Sunday  school  in  this  part 
of  the  world.  No  one  can  look  upon  his  gentle, 
refined  face,  as  the  wax  portrait  brings  it  before 
us,  without  realizing  that  he  must  have  been  a 
spiritual  force  in  his  community.  Rauschner 
mounted  his  work  usually  upon  glass,  but  in  the 
case  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Eaton  red  velvet  has  been 
used.  Leonard  Kip,  of  Kip's  Bay,  New  York, 
was  born  in  1774,  and  became  a  merchant  because 
a  large  part  of  his  family  estates  had  been  swept 
away  in  the  Revolution.  When  "by  skill  and 
prudence  he  was  enabled  to  repair  his  shattered 
fortunes,  he  withdrew  from  business,  leaving 
behind  him  an  enviable  reputation  for  ability  and 
integrity."  He  died  in  Hartford  in  1846.  His 
likeness  bears  out  his  history,  showing  us  a  fine, 
substantial  man  of  affairs. 

Of  Rauschner's  personal  history  very  little  is 
known  beyond  the  fact  that  he  was  in  Salem  and 
Boston  in  1809  and  early  18 10.  An  advertise- 
ment in  a  Philadelphia  paper  for  September  19, 


MARY  JANE    (MILLER)    QUINCY 
Robert  Ball  Hughes 

OWNED  BY   MRS.  ALBERT  THORNDIKE,  BOSTON 


AND    SILHOUETTES  23 

1810,  found  some  years  ago  by  Mr.  Hart,  says: 

John  C.  Rauschner  respectfully  acquaints  the  public 
that  he  hath  returned  to  this  city  after  an  absence 
of  nine  years.  He  continues  to  take  likenesses  in 
wax  composition  in  color,  also  family  pieces. 

We  know  that  he  was  in  New  York  City  some- 
time during  those  nine  years,  and  that  his  place 
of  business  was  at  No.  41  Chatham  Street.  At 
times  he  worked  as  a  hair-dresser. 

Rauschner,  on  his  return  to  Philadelphia,  did 
at  least  two  wax  profiles,  those  of  Aaron  Storck 
and  his  wife  Esther.  These  are  "beautifully  and 
delicately  modelled  and  are  wholly  artistic  in 
their  execution.  From  the  animation  and  expres- 
sion they  could  not  have  been  other  than  excellent 
likenesses."1  The  waxes  now  in  Philadelphia, 
by  Rauschner,  seem  to  be  few,  but  those  by 
George  M.  Miller  are  more  common.  Miller's 
waxes  were  smaller  than  Rauschner's,  being  only 
about  two,  or  two  inches  and  a  half  in  height. 
They  are  not  as  fine  as  Rauschner's,  since  they 

1  Charles  Henry  Hart,  Esq.,  who  owns  the  waxes. 


24  WAX    PORTRAITS 

are  neither  as  artistic  nor  as  elaborate.  Waxes 
by  Miller  of  Albert  Gallatin  and  Mrs.  James 
Madison  were  exhibited  in  the  Pennsylvania 
Academy  of  Fine  Arts  in  1813;  in  1814,  one  of 
Bishop  William  White;  and  in  1821,  one  of 
Talbot  Hamilton.  There  are  five  others  now 
known  in  Philadelphia.  So  far  as  can  be  found, 
neither  Miller  nor  the  Italian  Volaperta,  who 
modelled  wax  heads  in  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia, ever  came  to  New  England. 

In  1806,  there  was  born  in  London  a  boy  who 
was  called  Robert  Ball  Hughes.  Very  early  in 
life  he  desired  to  model,  but  being  poor,  had  to 
wait  until  he  had  collected  enough  candle  ends 
to  make  his  first  attempt.  Similar  stories  doubt- 
less are  told  of  many  other  sculptors,  too,  but  be 
that  as  it  may,  Ball  Hughes  finally  won  a  medal 
at  the  Royal  Academy  for  the  best  copy  of  a 
bas-relief  of  the  Apollo  Belvidere.  Later  he 
again  succeeded  with  a  bust  of  George  the  Fourth. 
In  1829,  he  came  to  New  York  and  then  to  Boston, 
where  he  finally  settled  in  Dorchester.    He  lived 


ELIZABETH   RODMAN 
Robert  Ball  Hughes 

OWNED   BY   MRS.   DUDLEY   L.   PICKMAN,   BOSTON 


AND    SILHOUETTES  2$ 

there  until  he  died,  and  those  who  write  books  on 
sculpture  wonder  that  in  his  long  life  he  did 
so  little.  They  call  attention  to  his  statue  of 
Nathaniel  Bowditch  in  Mount  Auburn,  the  first 
bronze  cast  in  America,  and  point  to  "Little 
Nell"  in  the  Boston  Athenaeum;  but  they  ignore 
the  most  delightful  expression  of  his  genius, 
which  was  in  modelling  reliefs  in  white  wax. 
He  worked  for  many  years  to  find  some  formula 
whereby  he  could  make  a  composition  that  would 
remain  white,  and  having  found  it,  he  died  with 
the  secret  untold.  His  waxes  are  most  exquisite, 
doubly  so  from  their  exceeding  whiteness  and 
beautiful  modelling.  They  are  mounted  on  vel- 
vet, but  are  slightly  raised,  so  that  one  gets  an 
impression  of  roundness  and  shadow. 

Nowhere  has  he  shown  to  greater  perfection 
these  qualities  of  dazzling  white  and  delicate 
modelling  than  in  the  portrait  of  Mrs.  Mary 
Miller  Quincy,  wife  of  the  second  MayorQuincy 
of  Boston ;  and  nowhere  does  the  superiority  of 
his  wax  express  itself  more  clearly  than  in  the 


26  WAX    PORTRAITS 

glow  of  the  high  lights  and  the  blue  transparency 
of  the  shadows.  The  Elizabeth  Rodman  shows 
greater  boldness  of  modelling  and  an  effective 
use  of  high  relief. 

With  Ball  Hughes's  death  the  art  languished 
here  in  America;  gradually  the  frail  reliefs 
yielded  to  time,  fire,  and  careless  hands,  until 
now  there  are  but  a  few  cherished  specimens  in 
any  city. 

With  the  surprising  revival  of  interest  in  sil- 
houettes throughout  Europe  and  America,  we 
may  hope  that  there  is  to  be  fresh  interest  in  the 
art  of  modelling  in  wax,  and  indeed  we  have 
the  evidence  of  such  an  interest  in  the  cheering 
work  of  Miss  Mundy. 


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AND    SILHOUETTES 


27 


SILHOUETTES 

LIVERWENDELLHOLMES, 

once  on  a  time  in  jocund  mood, 
wrote  verses  to  a  charming  un- 
known lady  whose  portrait  was 
exhibited  in  the  Athenaeum  gal- 
lery. One  stanza  shall  be  given  here  as  an  intro- 
duction to  our  subject: 

"Pray  did  you  ever  hear,  my  love, 

Of  boys  that  go  about 
Who,  for  a  very  trifling  sum, 

Will  snip  one's  portrait  out? 
I'm  not  averse  to  red  and  white, 

But  all  things  have  their  place; 
I  think  a  profile  cut  in  black 

Would  suit  your  style  of  face!" 

His  rather  nonchalant  attitude  towards  sil- 
houettes has  been  echoed  frequently  throughout 
the  ages,  for  like  all  arts,  and  like  the  Roman 
Empire,  the  art  of  silhouette  cutting  has  had  its 
rise  and  its  fall.  Like  wax  models,  "shades" 
have  come  down  to  us  from  farthest  antiquity. 


28  WAX    PORTRAITS 

In  the  tombs  of  Egypt,  the  conventionalized 
figures  done  in  profile  are  but  painted  silhouettes, 
and  are  as  true  to  life  as  our  own,  except  for  one 
thing :  the  Egyptian  never  learned  to  draw  the  eye 
in  profile,  nor  did  any  artist  of  Crete,  of  Baby- 
lon, of  Nineveh,  or  of  any  other  city,  until  the 
fourth  century  B.C.,  when  a  Syracusan  modelled 
it  correctly  for  a  coin.  The  figures  on  Etruscan 
oil  jars  and  Greek  vases  are  nothing  but  "shades." 
The  first  legend  of  a  real  shade  is  that  of  the 
daughter  of  Diabutades,  who  realized  that  her 
lover  was  becoming  cold  toward  her.  One  day, 
as  he  stood  so  that  the  sun  cast  his  shadow  upon 
the  wall,  she  outlined  it,  hoping  to  keep  his  image, 
if  not  his  love.  There  are  many  variations  of  this 
story;  often  it  is  the  tale  of  a  lover  whose  betrothed 
had  died,  and  whose  shadow,  as  she  lay  in  her 
coffin,  was  cast  upon  the  wall  by  the  candle  at 
her  head.  It  matters  not  to  which  legend  we 
pin  our  faith,  for  the  real  story  is  so  far  removed 
in  antiquity  that  age  lends  it  charm.  The  Jap- 
anese have  always  had  an  appreciation  of  the 


AND    SILHOUETTES  29 

great  value  that  the  silhouette  possesses,  for  many 
of  their  portraits  contain,  besides  the  colored 
likeness,  a  profile  done  in  black  wash,  as  an 
interpretation. 

A  silhouette  at  its  best  is  a  thing  of  real  beauty 
and  great  cleverness;  at  its  worst  it  is  a  quaint 
handicraft,  which  at  least  shows  the  dress  and 
manners  of  the  day.  There  is  no  sequence  in  type, 
as  each  has  persisted  throughout  the  period  of  its 
vogue.  The  types  are  very  numerous,  and  are 
interesting  for  the  ingenuity  shown  in  making 
and  treating  the  same  black  shade  in  new  and 
original  ways. 

Silhouettes  were  painted  on  glass,  ivory,  or 
plaster,  in  oil  or  India  ink.  One  of  the  earliest 
methods  was  with  the  brush  and  India  ink  on 
ivory,  card,  or  plaster.  This  is  perhaps  not  an 
ideal  type  of  silhouette,  as  it  trenches  upon  the 
province  of  the  miniature,  being  really  a  profile 
in  monochrome.  There  were  two  men  in  London, 
in  partnership  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, who  made  beautiful  silhouettes  of  this  type. 


30  WAX    PORTRAITS 

They  were  John  Miers  and  John  Field.  They 
advertised  that  they  "execute  their  long  approved 
Profile  likenesses  in  a  superior  style  and  with 
that  unequalled  degree  of  accuracy  as  to  retain 
the  most  animated  resemblance  and  character, 
given  in  the  minute  sizes  of  rings,  brooches, 
lockets,  etc.  (time  of  sitting  not  exceeding  five 
minutes).  Messrs.  Miers  and  Field  preserve  all 
the  original  shades  by  which  they  can  at  any 
period  furnish  copies  without  the  necessity  of 
sitting  again.  Miers  &  Field,  Profile  Painters 
and  Jewellers." 

Field  began  his  work  in  1792,  and  the  firm 
lasted  until  1827.  The  smaller  forms  have  be- 
come so  rare  as  to  be  found  only  in  a  very  few 
large  collections,  but  one  of  Field's  small  lockets 
is  fortunately  owned  in  this  country.  It  is  the 
silhouette  of  Robert  C.  Hooper,  done  with  ex- 
quisite delicacy,  and  with  the  high  lights  touched 
with  gold.  Mr.  Miers  never  used  gold  upon  his 
silhouettes,  according  to  tradition,  but  Mr.  Field 
seems  to  have  done  so  in  many  instances.    His 


0 

z 

°  > 

2  z 

50  I 
en 

3  S 

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AND    SILHOUETTES  31 

silhouette  of  Hester  Savory,  that  young  girl 
whom  Charles  Lamb  is  said  to  have  loved,  is 
delightfully  pencilled  with  gold. 

Another  form  of  silhouette  which  flourished 
at  this  time  was  that  painted  on  glass.  The  Eng- 
lish type,  which  differed  from  the  American,  was 
nearly  always  backed  by  wax  or  plaster,  and  in 
consequence,  it  is  very  difficult  to  find  one  in  good 
condition,  since  the  wax  or  plaster  has  nearly 
always  been  cracked  by  the  heat  or  cold  to  which 
it  was  subjected.  Critics  tell  us  that  the  loveliest 
form  of  all  was  that  of  the  likeness  painted  on 
convex  glass,  in  such  a  way  that  one  did  not  look 
directly  at  the  painted  face  to  see  the  silhouette, 
but  upon  a  white  card  behind  upon  which  the 
shadow  was  cast.  The  beauty  and  delicacy  of 
these  is  very  great,  according  to  their  enthusiastic 
admirers. 

Really  the  variations  of  method  are  endless,  for 
some  artists,  not  content  with  plain  black  paint, 
have  used  a  combination  of  pine  soot  and  beer, 
which  gives  a  very  intense  blackness.    There 


32  WAX    PORTRAITS 

appears  to  have  been  a  time  when  beer  was  the 
do-all  and  cure-all,  for  at  about  this  same  period 
is  found  the  receipt  for  cleaning  pewter  by  boil- 
ing it  in  beer  and  hay.  Be  that  as  it  may,  these 
silhouettists  covered  glass  with  the  mixture  of 
pine  soot  and  beer,  and  then  removed  the  back- 
ground from  around  the  portrait,  or  removed 
the  portrait  and  left  the  background.  The  glass 
was  then  backed  with  gold  leaf,  silver  leaf,  or 
tinsel,  so  that  the  result  was  a  gold  or  silver  por- 
trait in  a  black  ground  or  the  reverse.  Sometimes 
delicate  lines  are  left  to  traverse  the  morebrilliant 
background. 

All  these  processes  demanded  a  great  deal  of 
artistic  ability,  skill  in  catching  a  likeness,  and 
much  charm  in  drawing.  If  they  had  not  these, 
the  work  had  little  to  commend  it,  for  it  was  mere 
outline.  One  artist  of  this  type,  who  flourished 
at  the  time  of  Miers  &  Field,  was  Charles,  an 
Englishman,  who  with  his  brush  made  exceed- 
ingly delicate  and  lovely  silhouettes.  His  portrait 
of  John  Lucas,  which  is  reproduced  here,  was, 


JOHN  LANGDON 


OWNED   BY   W.   L.   WILLEY,  ESQ.,   BOSTON 


AND    SILHOUETTES  33 

despite  its  small  size,  one  of  the  most  charming 
at  the  exhibition  in  Boston.  It  is  so  inexpensively 
mounted  that  neither  Charles  himself  nor  his 
sitter  could  have  realized  the  real  beauty  of  the 
work  which  one  was  selling  and  the  other  buying 
so  cheaply.  His  work  nearly  always  combines, 
as  does  this  example,  fine  line  work  and  solid 
black. 

One  enthusiast  wrote  a  treatise  between  1800 
and  1825  on  "Papyro-Plastico,  or  the  art  of 
modelling  in  Paper."  In  this  pamphlet  it  is  ex- 
plained that  by  sticking  three  or  four  sheets  of 
paper  together,  and  by  working  at  the  back  with 
a  polishing  steel,  one  can  actually  make  a  profile 
portrait  in  slight  relief  out  of  a  silhouette  cut 
from  white  paper.  He  adds  that  this  process 
gives  "it  the  appearance  of  a  marble  tablet  or  a 
plaster  cast  done  by  a  sculptor."  Thus  can  one 
attain  great  ends  from  base  beginnings. 

But  the  silhouette  often  lapsed  from  real  art, 
when  no  man  of  genius  gave  it  his  beneficent 
touch.  And  in  those  dire  days  mechanical  aids 


34  WAX    PORTRAITS 

came  into  use.  It  was  during  one  of  these  periods 
of  eclipse  that  the  art  acquired  the  name  by  which 
we  know  it  today.  There  lived  in  France,  be- 
tween 1709  and  1767,  Etienne  de  Silhouette,  who 
became  Controller-General  of  France.  Like  all 
prophets  he  was  without  honor  in  his  own  coun- 
try, for  realizing  the  great  calamity  which  con- 
fronted France,  he  set  himself  to  preach  economy 
to  a  Court  which  had  never  even  known  its  name. 
He  translated  English  writings  on  finance,  and 
endeavored  to  put  his  country  upon  a  sound  basis. 
He  attacked  privilege,  and  reduced  the  pensions 
of  the  nobles,  till  at  last  his  name  became  synon- 
ymous with  all  that  was  mean  and  cheeseparing. 
So  portrait  painting  languished,  and  the  poor 
mean  artof  the  silhouette,  for  so  itwas  considered, 
flourished  for  a  time.  Silhouette  himself  made 
shades  by  mechanical  means.  It  seems  strange 
that  it  was  not  until  1825  that  the  art  was  finally 
christened  with  its  new  name  of  silhouette. 

In  the  days  of  Miers  &  Field  and  Charles, 
the  scrap-book  flourished  mightily.    Everybody 


1  I 


2     o 

X      25 

>      s. 


0 


r7T  a"  a  4  J  J^gA 


AND    SILHOUETTES  35 

had  one  and  everybody  pasted.  Queen  Charlotte 
and  the  Princess  Elizabeth  made  scrap-books, 
and  the  Princess  spent  much  time  cutting  silhou- 
ettes to  go  therein.  She  cut  all  kinds  of  things — 
portraits  of  people  and  of  dogs,  hunting  scenes, 
and  other  pictures,  parts  of  which  were  so  fine 
that  a  sharpened  needle  was  used  in  cutting.  The 
Princess's  example  was,  of  course,  followed  by 
those  of  less  degree,  and  many  a  lady  cut  silhou- 
ettes for  her  scrap-book  or  for  a  friend's.  Among 
those  ladies  was  Mrs.  Leigh  Hunt,  who  was 
one  of  the  best  of  the  amateurs.  Her  work  is 
unfortunately  unsigned,  but  her  portraits  of 
Leigh  Hunt,  of  Lord  Byron,  and  of  John  Keats, 
in  1820,  are  authentic. 

To  Americans  a  silhouette  means  nearly  always 
a  portrait  in  black  paper,  pasted  upon  a  white 
ground  or  vice  versa,  though  sometimes  the  same 
effect  was  gained  by  cutting  a  hole  in  a  piece  of 
white  paper  and  backing  it  with  black  paper  or 
cloth.  A  few  knowing  ones  realize  that  there 
are  at  least  two  other  types  which  were  made  in 


36  WAX    PORTRAITS 

America,  those  painted  on  glass  and  those  which 
are  done  in  color.  The  first  person  who  cut  sil- 
houettes in  England  was  Mrs.  Pyburg,  who  made 
black  paper  portraits  of  King  William  and 
Queen  Mary.  After  reading  English  books  upon 
silhouettes,  you  feel  that  you  should  as  soon  for- 
get your  mother's  name,  or  the  date  of  the  Battle 
of  Hastings,  as  forget  Mrs.  Pyburg.  She  began 
things,  she  is  like  Adam  and  Eve;  and  after 
Mrs.  Pyburg,  nothing,  until  in  the  early  nine- 
teenth century  England  began  to  send  us  here  in 
America  her  prodigies.  One  of  the  first  to  come 
was  "Master  Hubard,"  whose  given  names  were 
William  James,  a  youth  of  seventeen.  He  had 
begun  his  remarkable  career  as  a  silhouettist  in 
England  at  the  tender  age  of  thirteen.  At  seven- 
teen, his  genius  being  ripe  for  foreign  travel,  he 
visited  us  here  in  Boston.  He  had  previously 
been  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  where  he 
had  exhibited  at  the  Pennsylvania  Academy  of 
Fine  Arts  for  three  successive  years.  And  we 
in  Boston  changed  his  life,  for  Stuart's  paintings 


AND    SILHOUETTES  37 

so  entranced  him  that  he  abandoned  silhouette 
cutting  as  an  art  and  England  as  his  country. 
He  chose  Philadelphia  as  his  home  and,  having 
been  instructed  by  Sully,  spent  the  remainder 
of  his  life  as  a  painter  of  full-length  portraits  of 
cabinet  size.  He  died  in  Richmond,  February  25, 
1862,  killed  by  the  explosion  of  a  shell  he  was 
filling  for  the  use  of  the  Confederacy.1 

While  he  was  in  Boston  he  had  a  room  in  the 
Exchange  Coffee  House,  where  for  fifty  cents  he 
cut  your  likeness  in  twenty  seconds.  He  called 
his  art  "Papyrolamia."  Usually  his  cards  have 
" Hubard  Gallery"  in  the  left-hand  corner.  The 
portrait  of  John  Gray  Park,  which  is  by  Hubard, 
unfortunately  does  not  show  the  mark.  He  cut 
full-length  portraits  as  well  as  busts,  and  like  his 
predecessors  used  India  ink  and  gold  pencilling. 
And  when  the  likeness  was  complete  he  would 
frame  it  "in  black  glass  in  elegant  oval,  round,  or 
square  frames,  gilt  or  black,"  for  which  he  would 

1See  Mr.  Charles  Henry  Hart's  article  in  the  Outlook  for  Octo- 
ber 6,  1900. 


38  WAX    PORTRAITS 

charge  from  fifty  cents  to  two  dollars.  The 
Homer1  family,  of  Boston,  sat  to  him  for  their 
likenesses.  Unfortunately  it  is  not  possible  to  tell 
which  Homer  is  which,  but  they  are  marked, 
"Cut  with  scissors  by  Master  Hubard  without 
drawing  or  machine  at  the  gallery  of  cuttings 
and  Philharmonicon  Concert  Room."  This  short 
advertisement  differentiates  him  from  all  of  those 
who  had  preceded  him  in  America.  Silhou- 
ettes had  been  made,  but  only  by  a  machine. 
The  earliest  and  most  important  of  these  were 
cut  at  Peale's  Museum  in  Philadelphia.  Soon 
after  the  Revolution  Charles  Willson  Peale,  the 
artist,  opened  a  gallery,  which  consisted  for  the 
most  part  of  paintings  of  people  of  national  im- 
portance. Here  he  had  also  the  silhouette  cutter, 
which  was  worked  in  such  a  way  that  the  profile 
is  a  hole  cut  from  white  paper.  The  portrait  was 
then  mounted  upon  black.  The  silhouette  of 
Moore  Wharton,  which  was  cut  at  Peale's  Mu- 
seum, shows  the  texture  of  the  black  cloth  very 

1  Owned  by  Grenville  H.  Norcross,  Esq.,  of  Boston. 


AND    SILHOUETTES  39 

distinctly.  The  great  English  authority  on  silhou- 
ettes tells  us  that  this  form  is  unknown  in  Eng- 
land, and  cites  five  examples  in  the  Library  of 
Congress  as  extremely  rare.  The  truth  is  that  it 
is  almost  the  commonest  form  of  small  silhouette 
with  us.  The  machine,  so  far  as  has  been  proved, 
never  did  more  than  the  bust.  Peale  cut  silhou- 
ettes of  all  the  great  men  of  his  day. 

What  Peale  did  for  Philadelphia,  William 
Bache  and  William  King  did  for  New  England 
and  the  north.  Of  Bache  little  is  known;  on  the 
silhouette  of  George  Wythe  of  Virginia,  cut  in 
1804  f°r  Jefferson,  Mr.  Hart  found  his  Christian 
name.  He  cut  by  mechanical  means  and  prob- 
ably with  the  same  kind  of  machine  that  Peale 
used.  He  marked  his  portraits  with  a  stamp 
which  reads "  Bache's  Patent."  The  silhouette  of 
Mrs.  Devereux  shows  the  mark  very  plainly. 
Bache  did  many  Salem  worthies.  Salem  is,  in 
fact,  a  happy  hunting  ground  for  the  lover  of  wax 
or  silhouette,  for  Salem  people  seemed  desirous 
of  allowing  their  likenesses  to  pass  down  to  pos- 


40  WAX    PORTRAITS 

terity.  Among  others  who  made  silhouettes  in 
Salem  must  be  included  Mr.  Joye,  whose  name 
appears  upon  a  delightful  portrait  in  India  ink. 
To  return  to  Mr.  Bache,  it  is  worthy  to  note  that 
he  did  not  slavishly  adhere  to  his  cutting  machine, 
for  he  often  embellished  his  work  with  India  ink, 
not  only  in  graceful  outlines  of  hair  or  frill,  but 
with  a  ruffle  which  extended  entirely  across  the 
silhouette. 

Mr.  Felt,  in  his  Annals  of  Salem,  tells  of  an 
exhibition  of  silhouettes  in  1791 :  "Mr.  Bowen's 
likenesses  of  General  Washington  and  lady  and 
others,  from  the  Boston  Museum,  begin  to  be 
shown  at  the  Assembly  Rooms.  Admission  for 
each  adult  1/6."  He  adds  that  there  were  similar 
exhibitions  of  silhouettes  "in  1799,  1801,  and 
since."  He  does  not  tell,  nor  does  the  advertise- 
ment, whether  or  not  the  exhibit  was  to  catch 
victims  for  the  silhouettist.  He  does  tell  in  short 
terse  sentences  of  William  King's  career  in  Salem 
in  1804:  "William  King  comes  to  take  profiles. 
He  has  much  to  do  in  this  department.    He  was 


AND    SILHOUETTES  41 

succeeded  by  several  others.  Such  art  has  since 
lost  its  attraction." 1  Bache  was  probably  one  of 
King's  successors,  as  he  is  supposed  to  have  been 
in  Salem  about  18 10.  King  does  not  seem  to  have 
enjoyed  much  prosperity;  perhaps  he  fell  upon 
lean  years,  for  before  the  following  season  he  had 
moved  to  Portsmouth.  He  advertised  that  he 
had  taken  rooms  at  Colonel  Woodward's,  where 
he  cut  likenesses  for  twenty-five  cents.  Later 
on,  William  Bentley,  of  diary  fame,  records  his 
further  progress  northward,  but  after  1807  ne 
disappears  from  view  here  in  New  England. 

"1807  Feb.  6th2  Mr.  King  has  a  panorama 
still  in  Salem.  It  is  the  siege  of  Tripoli.  The 
ships  are  done  by  [Michele  Felice]  Corne,  for- 
merly living  in  the  town  and  introduced  by  E.  H. 
Derby  from  Naples.  The  ships  are  good,  but  the 
whole  admits  some  improvement.  The  profits 
from  such  Exhibitions  in  Salem  are  said  to  be 

1Vol.  II.  Miss  Mary  C.  Crawford  called  my  attention  to  these 
interesting  items. 

'Diary  of  William  Bentley,  Vol.  Ill,  1803-10,  p.  276. 


42  WAX    PORTRAITS 

much  less  than  in  Marblehead.  Few  visit  in  the 
daytime.  Commercial  habits  enquire  how  much 
by  it?  His  profile  cutting  produced  him  more  in 
Halifax,  N.  8.,  than  in  Salem." 

The  Salem  record  of  silhouettes  would  not  be 
complete  without  one  more  quotation  from  the 
"Annals,"  which  is  interesting  because  it  brings 
before  us  another  name  for  the  art,  and  a  new 
name  upon  the  roster  of  those  who  really  cut  sil- 
houettes. "1828  Master  Hanks,  as  the  successor 
of  the  celebrated  Master  Hubard,  is  advertised 
as  capable  of  delineating  every  object  in  nature 
and  art  with  extraordinary  correctness.  This  he 
did  by  means  of  paper  and  scissors,  merely  look- 
ing at  the  subject  represented.  It  took  him  but  a 
few  minutes  to  give  an  exact  bust  of  any  person 
he  saw.  At  Concert  Hall,  where  his  talent  was 
fully  and  successfully  tested,  was  the  Papyro- 
tamia,  or  a  curious  collection  of  paper  cuttings. 
Admission  twenty-five  cents.  In  this  department 
of  art  several  young  women  of  Salem  have  greatly 
excelled." 


b 


AND    SILHOUETTES  43 

No  signed  example  of  his  work  has  been  seen 
in  New  England,  but  there  is  one  in  Baltimore, 
of  "Miss  Henrietta  Moffit  at  the  age  of  about  six 
years."1  So  Master  Hanks  may  have  visited  the 
cities  up  and  down  the  coast,  but  he  has  left  no 
further  biographical  detail. 

The  wandering  silhouettist  is  hard  to  trace. 
On  a  few  portraits  "Williams"  is  stamped,  and 
they  are  nearly  always  mounted  in  such  a  way 
that  the  name  can  only  be  read  by  Alice's  Look- 
ing-glass methods.  Who  he  was  does  not  appear, 
but  a  portrait  of  an  unknown  man  is  herewith 
reproduced  in  the  hope  that  some  day  more  may 
be  known  of  Williams. 

Boston  boasts  but  one  local  silhouettist,  Wil- 
liam M.  S.  Doyle,  who  became  the  partner  of 
Daniel  Bowen.  Bowen  had  established  a  museum 
in  1791  opposite  the  Bunch  of  Grapes  Tavern  on 
State  Street.  Later  he  was  in  a  hall  over  the 
schoolhouse  on  Hollis  Street.  In  1795,  Bowen 
and  Doyle  moved  again  to  the  corner  of  Brom- 

1  Collection  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Whitridge,  Baltimore. 


44  WAX    PORTRAITS 

field  and  Tremont  Streets.  They  had  very  bad 
luck,  for  the  building  was  burned  in  1803,  and 
again  in  1807,  when  they  were  just  north  of 
King's  Chapel.  After  the  second  fire  Bowen  left 
Boston,  and  Doyle  continued  by  himself.  About 
181 1,  Abel  Bowen,  a  son  of  Daniel,  determined 
to  take  up  the  trade  of  making  woodcuts,  and 
oddly  enough  his  first  commercial  venture  was  a 
cut  to  be  used  by  Doyle  as  an  advertisement. 

Wm  M.  S.  DOYLE 
Miniature  and  Profile  Painter 
Tremont  Street,  Boston,  next  House  north  of  the 
Stone-Chapel,  the  late  residence  of  R.  G.  Amory, 
esq.  Continues  to  execute  Likenesses  in  Miniature 
and  Profile  of  various  sizes  (the  latter  in  shade  or 
natural  colours)  in  a  style  peculiarly  striking  and 
elegant,  whereby  the  most  forcible  animation  is 
obtained. 

Some  are  finished  on  composition,  in  the  manner 
of  the  celebrated  Miers,  of  London, 
'.'Prices  of  Profiles — from  25  cents  to  I,  2  &  5 

dollars. 
Miniatures — 12 ,  i$f  18  and  20  dollars, 
Dec.  17.     [1811]1 

1My  thanks  are  due  to  Miss  H.  C.  Cattanach  for  bringing  this 
advertisement  to  my  attention. 


AND    SILHOUETTES  45 

Doyle  made  most  of  his  silhouettes  in  the 
manner  of  his  predecessors ;  sometimes  they  were 
cut  out  of  black  paper  and  pasted  on  a  card,  and 
sometimes  he  made  them  of  white  paper,  with 
theportrait holebacked with  blackpaper.  Which 
way  our  silhouette  of  Bishop  Cheverus  was  cut  is 
hard  to  tell,  but  the  face  of  the  Bishop  stands  forth 
in  all  its  sweetness  andstrength.  Bishop  Cheverus 
was  the  first  Roman  Catholic  Bishop  of  Boston, 
and  was  one  of  the  best  beloved  citizens  of  the 
town  in  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
He  was  translated  later  to  be  Archbishop  of 
Bordeaux,  then  one  of  the  highest  offices  of  the 
church  in  France.  He  never  forgot  Boston  and 
his  friends  there,  and  few  citizens  of  that  town 
ever  visited  Paris  without  receiving  great  kind- 
ness from  the  Archbishop.  Doyle  did  other  sil- 
houettes, though  they  are  not  numerous.  Among 
the  more  famous  is  one  of  Samuel  Foster,  a  sol- 
dier of  the  Revolution  and  member  of  the  Boston 
Tea  Party. 

Before  passing  on  to  the  great  lights  of  the 


46  WAX    PORTRAITS 

thirties  and  forties,  Edouart  and  Brown,  there 
are  a  few  isolated  facts  which  seem  worthy  of 
mention.  At  the  American  Antiquarian  Society 
in  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  are  three  profile 
portraits,  gilt  on  a  background  of  black,  which 
appear  to  be  painted  on  glass.  The  names  of  the 
artists  are  appended  to  these  portraits,  and  give 
them  an  added  value,  as  they  bring  to  mind  some 
famous  names.  The  silhouettes  of  Madison  and 
Gallatin  are  marked  "C.  P.  Polk,  fecit,"  and 
were  done  by  Charles  Peale  Polk,  a  nephew  of 
Charles  Willson  Peale.  He,  like  his  uncle,  was 
more  known  as  an  artist  than  as  a  silhouettist, 
and  is  chiefly  famous  for  his  portrait  of  Washing- 
ton, of  which  he  made  some  fifty  copies.  The 
other  silhouette  at  Worcester  is  marked  "A.  P. 
Doolittle,  fecit,"  and  may  perhaps  have  been 
done  by  Amos  Doolittle,  of  New  Haven,  one  of 
our  early  engravers.  In  the  catalogue  of  an 
exhibit  by  the  Colonial  Dames  of  Maryland, 
in  191 1,  there  is  mention  of  two  other  silhouettes 
of  this  kind,  representing  members  of  the  Briscoe 


AND    SILHOUETTES  47 

family.1  As  they  are  called  "gold  silhouettes," 
they  may  perhaps  have  been  done  with  beer  and 
soot.  The  portrait  of  Lucy  Ames  Wheeler  rep- 
resents the  commoner  way  of  making  a  silhouette 
on  glass.  An  oval  was  outlined  in  gilt  on  glass, 
and  the  space  outside  the  oval  was  filled  out  to 
the  frame  with  black.  The  portrait  was  then 
painted  in  black  within  the  oval,  and  a  white  card 
was  placed  behind  it  to  emphasize  the  black. 
This  simple  form  which  the  leaner  pocketbooks 
of  our  ancestors  forced  us  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic  to  indulge  in,  really  lasted  longer  than 
the  more  pretentious  English  ones  with  their 
backing  of  wax  or  plaster.  Glass  profiles  in 
black  are  not  as  common  as  the  life-size  portraits 
which  were  painted  on  glass  in  color,  such  as  the 
George  and  Martha  Washington,  which  are  often 
found  done  in  this  way. 

The  same  exhibition  catalogue  contains  the 
name  of  Dewey,  a  silhouettist  unknown  to  us  at 
theNorth ;  hemade  aportrait  in  black  of  Ambrose 

1  Owned  by  Mrs.  Cradock,  Pikesville,  Md. 


48  WAX    PORTRAITS 

Clark1  in  1800.  There  is  a  second  silhouette  made 
by  him  in  Salisbury,  Maryland.2 

Naturally  portraits  of  Washington  have  always 
had  greater  interest  for  the  collector  than  those 
of  any  other  American.  This  fact  has  brought 
to  light  the  names  of  many  early  silhouettists  who 
might  otherwise  have  sunk  into  the  night  of 
oblivion.  J.  F.  Vallee  and  S.  Folwell,  in  Phila- 
delphia, made  silhouettes  of  him  in  India  ink, 
and  Sarah  ( ?)  De  Hart  cut  him  with  scissors. 
There  is  a  very  attractive  silhouette  of  Washing- 
ton in  Wansey's  Travels,  but  by  an  unknown 
person.  Its  printing,  by  woodcut  on  rather  rough 
paper,  gives  it  a  charming  softness  of  appearance. 
Samuel  Powell,  again  a  Philadelphian,  made 
silhouettes  from  shadows  cast  by  a  lamp.  More 
and  more  as  the  facts  come  to  light  is  one  im- 
pressed by  the  great  popularity  of  the  shade  in 
times  past. 

Another  interesting  type  of  silhouette  is  that 

1  Owned  by  Mrs.  William  A.  Fisher,  Baltimore. 
3  Mrs.  William  Graham,  owned  by  L.  M.  Gunby. 


GEORGE  PHILLIPS   PARKER 

Auguste  Edouart 

OWNED   BY   MISS   MARIAN  JEFFRIES,  BOSTON 


AND    SILHOUETTES  49 

painted  in  color  on  paper.  The  frontispiece  of 
this  monograph  is  a  delightful  example  of  this 
style,  and  is  particularly  interesting  in  that  it  rep- 
resents John  Erving,  Esq.,  his  wife,  Maria  Cath- 
arina,  and  their  daughter  Abigail.  Mrs.  Erving 
was  the  daughter  of  Lieutenant  General  William 
Shirley,  one  of  the  Colonial  governors.  The 
whole  style  of  the  picture  is  delightful,  with  its 
soft  color,  its  quaint  grouping  and  costume.  The 
usual  form  of  these  coloredsilhouettes  wasmerely 
the  head  and  shoulders.  These  were  most  often 
framed  in  squareblack  lacquer  with  an  oval  open- 
ing in  the  center,  embellished  by  a  rim  of  brass  or 
gilt  which  being  cut  in  long  tongues  at  the  back 
served  to  hold  the  silhouette  in  place.  None  of 
these  silhouettes  is  signed  except  one  which  comes 
from  the  town  of  Richmond,  Massachusetts.  It 
has  its  maker's  initials  upon  the  back,  with  the 
statement  that  he  has  sent  the  better  of  the  two 
which  he  had  painted.  It  represents  a  man  in  a 
black  coat,  the  folds  of  which  are  accentuated  by 
applying  the  black  paint  so  thickly  that  it  shines. 


50  WAX    PORTRAITS 

The  inner  waistcoat  is  very  stiff,  and  with  the 
collar  is  carefully  striped  blue  and  white.  The 
complexion  is  florid  and  brownish  in  tone,  per- 
haps indicating  that  the  man  was  tanned.  The 
hair  is  carefully  and  wonderfully  painted,  and 
has  the  part  running  across  the  top  of  the  head. 
The  colors  are  in  a  most  perfect  condition,  for 
they  appear  never  to  have  been  exposed  to  the 
light.1  It  is  fortunate  for  the  history  of  the  art 
that  the  story  of  this  rather  obscure  follower 
should  be  known.  An  aged  inhabitant  of  the 
town  wrote  down  her  recollections  of  the  man 
who  painted  the  profiles,  and  a  most  interesting 
tale  it  is. 

"These  are  the  facts  as  to  those  silhouettes: 
On  March  4th,  1806,  Martin  Griffing,  aged  22 
years,  while  painting  the  steeple  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church,  fell  to  the  ground  and  broke  his 
back,  and  was  picked  up  for  dead,  but  rallied  and 
lived  to  be  75 ;  he  never  walked  again.  He  picked 
up  this  work  of  making  these  profiles,  as  he  called 

1  Owned  by  R.  Henry  W.  D wight,  Esq.,  of  Boston. 


JANE  E.  C.  AND  GEORGE  W.  CHAPMAN 

Auguste  Edouart 

OWNED   BY   MISS  J.   E.  C.  CHAPMAN,  CAMBRIDGE 


AND    SILHOUETTES  51 

them,  and  invented  some  machine  for  thepurpose ; 
most  of  them  were  plain  black,  though  he  painted 
some  of  them,  which  we  have  now.  He  began  the 
work  as  soon  as  he  was  able  to  ride  about,  and 
cleared  the  first  year  $1,500.  He  worked  in  this 
(Berkshire)  and  some  adjoining  counties;  also 
in  Vermont  and  New  York  State. 

" While  cleaning  the  garret,  we  found  an  en- 
velope with  25  or  more  silhouettes  of  ministers 
he  had  kept  together,  and  with  their  names.  He 
worked  at  this  for  about  two  years,  I  think,  or  until 
he  covered  quite  a  territory,  but  it  finally  became 
tiresome  for  him  to  ride  so  much,  as  there  were 
no  railroads,  so  he  picked  up  the  trade  of  shoe- 
making  and  cobbled  at  his  home  in  this  town  until 
he  was  past  70  years  old." x 

During  the  twenties  at  Bowdoin,  and  doubtless 
at  other  colleges,  the  silhouette  was  used  for  class 
pictures,  and  class  albums  were  as  much  a  part 
of  a  senior's  life  then  as  they  are  at  present.  The 
College  Library  is  fortunate  to  possess  the  silhou- 

1From  the  Dwight  Collection  (Americana). 


52  WAX    PORTRAITS 

ette  albums  of  the  classes  of  1824,  1825,  and  1826, 
for  these  were  interesting  days  at  the  college. 
The  album  of  1824  is  bound  in  morocco  and  has 
alternate  black  and  white  leaves.  The  silhouettes 
are  cut  as  Peale's  and  Bache's  were — holes  in  the 
white  paper,  with  the  alternate  black  leaves  serv- 
ing as  a  background.  These  class  profiles  are 
particularly  interesting,  as  they  contain  among 
their  number  Franklin  Pierce,  afterwards  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  and  Calvin  E.  Stowe, 
later  famous  as  the  husband  of  Harriet  Beecher. 
The  silhouettes  of  the  class  of  1826  are  loose 
sheets  unmounted,  but  one  can  still  find  among 
them  the  youthful  face  of  William  Pitt  Fessen- 
den,  the  famous  senator  from  Maine.  The  most 
interesting  of  all  is  the  profile  of  Henry  Wads- 
worth  Longfellow  as  a  senior  in  1825.  I*  1S  m" 
teresting  to  place  the  portraits  of  our  two  poets 
Whittier  and  Longfellow  side  by  side,  and  to 
realize  how  utterly  different  their  youthful  faces 
are  from  the  likenesses  to  which  we  have  grown 
accustomed. 


AND    SILHOUETTES  53 

These  albums  must  have  had  a  considerable 
vogue,  for  there  is  one  in  Boston1  containing  some 
silhouettes  marked  by  Peale  and  Bache,  and 
another  in  Baltimore.2  In  the  former  case  the 
two  outer  corners  of  the  sheets  are  tipped  with 
glue,  so  that  some  hard  substance  would  have 
to  be  inserted  between  the  black  leaf  and  the 
white,  during  the  cutting.  The  album  contains 
silhouettes  of  many  statesmen,  friends  of  the 
Josiah  Quincy  of  that  day. 

There  are  two  unsigned  silhouettes  which  have 
been  included  among  the  illustrations  here  be- 
cause the  people  who  are  pictured  are  interesting 
and  the  silhouettes  themselves  are  delightful. 
One  is  a  small  bust  of  our  war  governor,  John  A. 
Andrew.  The  other  is  of  Judge  James  Kings- 
bury, the  first  settler  of  Cleveland,  Ohio.  He 
and  his  family  started  by  wagon  across  New 
York  State.  They  drove  a  cow  with  them,  for 
Mrs.  Kingsbury  had  a  small  baby.    During  the 

1  Owned  by  Mrs.  M.  A.  DeWolfe  Howe. 
8 Miss  E.  K.  Barnard. 


54  WAX    PORTRAITS 

long  journey  a  heavy  snowstorm  came  up,  so 
heavy  that  the  cow  could  get  no  nourishment,  and 
died  of  starvation ;  the  little  baby  died  in  conse- 
quence. This  trouble  and  sorrow  almost  make  us 
forgive  him  for  his  extremely  stodgy  appearance. 
As  was  true  of  the  wax  portrait  modeller,  so  it 
appears  to  be  true  of  silhouettists,  that  the  men 
who  ended  a  period  reached  the  highest  level. 
In  America  the  art  of  silhouette  cutting  culmi- 
nates with  two  men,  Auguste  Edouart,  a  French- 
man, and  William  Henry  Brown,  an  American. 
Edouart  was  born  in  France  in  1788,  and  after 
following  the  fortunes  of  Napoleon,  found  refuge 
in  London  in  18 15.  For  some  time  he  earned  his 
living  by  teaching  French,  but  as  the  refugees 
became  more  numerous  and  competition  greater, 
he  was  forced  to  abandon  this  occupation  for  one 
less  crowded.  At  first  he  made  portraits  out  of 
hair,  which  he  called  mosaics,  his  subjects  being 
both  human  and  canine.  He  subsisted  in  this 
fashion  until  his  wife's  death  in  1825,  when  he 
lost  all  ambition,  and  as  his  means  of  livelihood 


JOHN   GREENLEAF  WHITTIER 
OWNED   BY   MRS.  WALTER  G.  CHASE,  BOSTON 


AND    SILHOUETTES  55 

failed  he  became  much  depressed.  The  story  of 
his  chance  interest  in  silhouettes  is  worth  record- 
ing, because  it  is  a  true  exemplification  of  "Great 
oaks  from  little  acorns  grow."  One  day  while 
visiting  friends  at  tea  the  younger  members  of 
the  family  brought  in  some  silhouettes  which  they 
had  that  day  had  taken  by  a  machine  at  the  coun- 
try fair.  Edouart,  interested,  remarked  that  he 
himself  could  do  better.  Egged  on  by  the  young 
people,  he  proved  his  contention,  and  in  conse- 
quence began  the  career  by  which  he  became 
known  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  His  first 
full-length  portrait  was  of  Dr.  Majendie,  Bishop 
of  Bangor.  It  was  such  a  success  that  the  Doctor 
had  forty  copies  made.  Soon  after  he  began  his 
career,  he  injured  his  index  finger  while  assisting 
a  lady  over  a  stile.  Her  dress  caught  on  a  nail 
which  protruded,  and  while  endeavoring  to 
remedy  the  trouble  he  was  hurt  severely.  The 
finger  gave  him  great  distress,  and  he  was  unable 
to  go  on  with  his  business,  until  one  night  he 
dreamed  that  he  could  cut  as  well  by  using  his 


56  WAX    PORTRAITS 

middle  finger.  Thereafter  he  always  cut  with 
his  second  finger  as  long  as  he  worked;  in  fact, 
there  is  an  old  daguerreotype  which  shows  him 
holding  his  scissors  in  that  fashion.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  his  career,  when  his  fame  had  not  become 
that  of  a  real  artist,  he  had  to  endure  much  social 
obloquy.  A  "shade  man"  was  no  better,  at  the 
time,  than  any  beggar  or  pedlar;  so  that  he  had 
often  to  endure  cold  looks  and  snubs  from  former 
acquaintances.  But  this  season  was  short,  for  his 
real  genius  began  to  be  appreciated,  and  he  him- 
self was  soon  taken  back  into  favor.  He  travelled 
all  over  England  and  visited  Scotland  and  Ire- 
land. It  seems  safe  to  say  that  nearly  all  the  great 
men  of  his  day  in  the  British  Isles  had  their  por- 
traits cut  by  him. 

He  took  his  art  most  seriously,  so  seriously,  in 
fact,  that  he  issued  a  book  in  1835.  The  volume 
is  called,  "A  Treatise  on  Silhouette  Likenesses  by 
Monsieur  Edouart,  Silhouettist  to  the  French 
Royal  Family,  and  patronized  by  His  Royal 
Highness,  the  late  Duke  of  Gloucester  and  the 


HENRY  WADSWORTH   LONGFELLOW,    I  825 
OWNED  BY  THE  BOWDOIN  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 


AND    SILHOUETTES  £7 

principal  Nobility  of  England,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland."  In  this  book  Edouart  makes  an  appeal 
for  the  art  in  its  purity,  for  he  says  that  the  black 
shade  is  the  essential,  and  accessories  detract  from 
what  should  be  the  real  effect.  It  should  be  the 
true  shadow  of  the  man  or  woman  in  question. 
Such  silhouettes  as  the  one  of  Abigail  Winship 
Robbins,  with  black  face  and  white  mobcap, 
caused  him  the  greatest  irritation,  and  in  his 
final  tirade  against  such  things  he  hurls  forth, 
"I  should  not  be  surprised  that  by  and  by  those 
negro  faces  will  have  blue  or  brown  eyes,  rosy 
lips  and  cheeks,  which  I  am  sure  would  have  a 
more  striking  appearance  for  those  who  are  fond 
of  such  bigarrades."  As  it  was  the  day  of  paint- 
ing on  glass,  perhaps  those  who  indulged  in  such 
"bigarrades"  may  have  had  some  excuse  for 
decking  their  shades  in  color.  It  was  Edouart, 
by  the  way,  who  finally  christened  the  shade  a 
"silhouette." 

Edouart  was  so  prolific  that  in  the  ten  years 
before  he  published  his  book  he  cut  nearly  fifty 


58  WAX    PORTRAITS 

thousand  silhouettes.  He  sold  the  silhouettes  of 
celebrated  characters  for  three  shillings.  His 
prices  varied  a  little  from  time  to  time,  but  the 
scale  was  in  general  much  as  follows : 


Full  length 

5/ 

Sitting 

7/ 

Children  under  8 

3/6 

Bust 

2/6 

"Families were  attended  at  theirown  residences," 
and  accessories  such  as  harps,  hobby  horses,  etc., 
were  charged  in  proportion.  He  was  a  gentleman 
in  all  his  ways,  and  ever  and  always  refused  to 
sell  a  lady's  picture  to  strangers.  Many  and  in- 
teresting were  the  means  taken  by  the  young  men 
to  get  pictures  of  pretty  girls,  but  they  were  never 
successful  where  Edouart  was  concerned. 

In  1839,  Edouart  set  sail  for  America,  and  he 
spent  the  next  ten  years  here,  cutting  silhouettes 
at  the  rate  of  manyhundred  a  year.  Heprospered 
greatly  and  his  opportunities  for  meeting  the 
famous  men  of  the  day  must  have  made  his  life 
interesting  and  varied.   The  silhouette  group  of 


JUDGE  JAMES   KINGSBURY,  THE   FIRST  SETTLER   OF  CLEVELAND,  OHIO 
OWNED   BY   MRS.   WALTER  G.  CHASE,  BOSTON 


AND    SILHOUETTES  59 

Daniel  Webster  and  Jonathan  Phillips  sitting 
together  is  very  dignified,  restful,  and  impressive. 
Perhaps  it  might  be  said  here  that  Edouart  pre- 
ferred to  cut  the  whole  figure,  because  he  con- 
tended that  the  proportion  of  the  figure,  the 
manner  of  dress,  and  the  attitude  were  of  as  much 
importance  in  delineating  the  character  as  was 
the  face.  Groups  gave  an  opportunity  for  con- 
trast in  proportion,  and  were  therefore  much 
esteemed  by  him.  One  has  only  to  look  at  the 
Abbott  Lawrence  or  the  Smith  group  to  realize 
the  truth  of  the  statement.  These  he  has  rendered 
still  more  attractive  by  the  room,  drawn  in  sepia, 
in  which  he  placed  his  portraits.  The  Abbott 
Lawrence  family  are  grouped  in  their  library  on 
Park  Street,  Boston,  which  is  so  well  drawn  that 
those  who  are  privileged  to  penetrate  the  inner 
precincts  of  the  Union  Club  recognize  it  at  once. 
His  cleverness  in  cutting  is  best  shown  in  the 
portrait  of  an  "Unknown  man"  which  is  not  cut 
in  exact  profile,  but  alittle  turned  away.  Another 
Boston  group  which  is  of  interest  is  that  of  the 


60  WAX    PORTRAITS 

Rev.  John  Pierpont  and  his  first  wife,  Mary 
Sheldon  Lord.  Between  them  stands  their  little 
granddaughter,  Mary  Lord  Pierpont,  afterwards 
Mrs.  James  Crosby,  toward  whom  each  grand- 
parent extends  an  admonishing  finger.  The  sil- 
houette was  taken  at  the  time  when  Mr.  Pierpont 
was  minister  at  the  Hollis  Street  Church,  and 
shows  him  in  his  robes  of  office,  very  solemn 
and  stern.  Often,  when  the  background  was  not 
washed  in  in  sepia,  the  portrait  was  mounted  on 
a  lithographed  card.  George  Phillips  Parker  is 
an  example  of  this  kind;  what  could  better  hold 
up  a  mirror  to  the  times  than  this  same  silhouette 
and  its  background?  Here  are  the  ladies  in  their 
bonnets  and  shawls,  the  men  in  their  high  collars, 
and  Mr.  Parker  lecturing  on  temperance,  the 
great  new  movement  then  sweeping  over  the  coun- 
try and  laying  the  ax  at  the  root  of  many  a  flour- 
ishing apple  orchard.  The  Chapman  children 
finish  the  series  of  pictures  of  the  costumes  of 
the  time:  the  little  girl  in  full  skirt  and  panta- 
lettes, holding  a  crooked  stemmed  rose ;  the  boy 


AND    SILHOUETTES  6l 

stiff  in  small  size  men's  clothes,  standing  with  his 
hoop. 

Edouart  visited  every  large  city  in  the  United 
States  during  the  ten  years  he  spent  here,  but  he 
did  a  vast  deal  at  Saratoga  in  1841  and  1842. 
After  ten  years  he  determined  to  return  to  Eng- 
land, and  so  set  sail  in  the  Oneida  in  1849.  He 
had  a  very  rough  voyage,  and  was  finally  ship- 
wrecked on  the  Islandof  Guernsey.  On  the  island 
he  was  befriended  by  a  family  who  did  much  for 
him ;  v^hen  he  was  about  to  resume  his  journey, 
he  presented  the  daughter,  Frederica  Lukens,  all 
the  volumes  of  his  silhouettes,  fourteen  in  num- 
ber, which  had  been  rescued  from  the  shipwreck. 

Edouart  had  always  cut  his  silhouettes  in  dupli- 
cate, one  of  which  he  pasted,  with  the  sitter's 
autograph,  in  a  huge  scrap-book.  Most  of  these 
books  went  down  with  the  Oneida,  but  some  of 
the  American  books  were  saved.  For  many  years 
the  rescued  books  lay  hidden  in  the  Island  of 
Guernsey  until  they  were  finally  brought  to  light 
and  sold  during  the  past  year.    And  Edouart, 


62  WAX    PORTRAITS 

broken  in  health  and  in  spirit,  betook  himself 
to  a  small  town  near  Calais,  where  he  spent  the 
few  remaining  years  of  his  life.  He  never  cut 
any  more  portraits,  so  that  the  work  which  he  did 
in  America  was  his  last. 

That  Edouart  was  a  real  artist  few  will  deny, 
and  he  was  so  serious  in  it  that  he  never  descended 
to  caricature,  an  obviously  easy  way  to  express 
his  meaning.  He  had  a  great  aptitude  for  seizing 
the  salient  point  of  a  face  or  figure,  and  in  his 
silhouettes  a  gesture,  a  pose,  or  an  arrested  move- 
ment often  gave  his  portraits  a  more  than  photo- 
graphic likeness. 

Just  now,  because  of  the  sale  of  his  duplicates, 
Edouart  is  having  great  vogue,  and  is  somewhat 
pushing  into  the  background  our  own  native-born 
genius,  William  Henry  Brown,  who  was  at  least 
a  good  second,  if  not  his  equal,  in  the  art.  Brown 
was  born  in  1808  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,1 
and  was  like  Patience  Wright,  of  Quaker  ances- 

*See  Charles  Henry  Hart's  article  in  the  Outlook  for  October  6, 
1900. 


m 

ABIGAIL  WINSHIP   ROBBINS 
OWNED   BY   MISS  ELLEN  A.   STONE,  LEXINGTON 


AND    SILHOUETTES  63 

try.  He  began  early  to  show  his  inclination  for 
the  work  to  which  he  was  destined.  His  first  por- 
trait of  importance  was  a  silhouette  of  Lafayette, 
done  during  his  last  visit  to  this  country.  Brown, 
like  Edouart,  preferred  to  cut  the  whole  figure, 
and  he  soon  became  so  popular  that  he  had  a  set 
of  lithographed  backgrounds  as  did  Edouart. 
John  Randolph  of  Roanoke  is  probably  set  in  the 
surrounding  chosen  by  himself  as  most  char- 
acteristic. 

Brown  was  quicker  in  his  cutting  than  Edouart, 
his  time  varying  from  one  minute  to  five.  He  had 
an  eye  which  took  in  the  subject  instantaneously, 
and  it  is  said  of  him  that  he  never  forgot,  and 
that  years  after  he  could  duplicate  his  pictures 
from  memory.  He  did  not  always  use  a  back- 
ground, but  sometimes  a  wash  of  black  to  sug- 
gest the  ground,  as  in  the  horseback  picture  of 
John  Parker,  Jr. 

Edouart's  silhouettes  are  cut  with  more  ele- 
gance than  Brown's,  but  the  latter's  are  on  the 
whole  as  convincingly  true  to  life.    Brown  cut 


64  WAX    PORTRAITS 

the  silhouettes  of  as  famous  people  of  this  coun- 
try as  did  Edouart,  and  in  addition  he  cut  very 
elaborate  compositions.  Volunteer  fire  engine 
companies  "adored"  to  be  cut  in  silhouette,  with 
all  their  apparatus.  One  composition  of  this 
kind  in  St.  Louis  was  twenty-five  feet  long,  and 
contained  the  portrait  of  every  member  of  the 
company. 

Brown  was  so  quick  in  getting  a  likeness  that 
he  often  surprised  people  by  showing  them  sil- 
houettes of  themselves  when  they  had  been  totally 
unconscious  that  they  had  posed  for  him.  He 
could  catch  and  cut  a  passerby  in  the  street. 
He  gained  money  easily  and  spent  it  as  easily, 
so  that  he  never  grew  rich  from  his  work. 
Mr.  Charles  Henry  Hart,  in  his  charming  arti- 
cle, "The  Last  of  the  Silhouettists,"1  speaks  of 
Brown  from  a  personal  encounter  with  the  man 
in  1874,  in  the  mountains  of  Pennsylvania.  He 
says  that  "he  was  of  fair  height  and  massive 
frame,  but  these  failed  to  conceal  the  unusual 

Outlook,  October  6,  1900. 


o 

r  § 

s  % 

> 


AND    SILHOUETTES  65 

magnitude  of  his  head,  which  put  to  shame 
Daniel  Webster's  famous  'size  8'  hat.  One  fea- 
ture of  his  face  was  noticeable  to  even  an  ordinary 
observer,  and  that  was  the  abnormally  wide  dis- 
tance between  his  two  eyes,  which  was,  as  he  said, 
his  one  point  of  resemblance  to  George  Wash- 
ington. He  was  a  fluent  and  agreeable  talker; 
indeed,  he  was  such  a  conversationalist  that  he 
was  admitted  into  close  companionship  with  the 
prominent  men  of  his  day,  most  of  whom  were 
cut  by  him ;  and  his  reminiscences  were  highly 
entertaining." 

In  1846,  Brown  published  a  book  which  he 
called  the  "Portrait  Gallery  of  Distinguished 
American  Citizens,  with  Biographical  Sketches." 
It  was  issued  at  Hartford,  Connecticut,  by  E.  B. 
&  E.  C.  Kellog,  and  is  now  rare,  as  most  of  the 
edition  was  burned.  Among  those  who  appear 
in  the  book  are  Chief  Justice  John  Marshall, 
John  Quincy  Adams,  Richard  Channing  Moore, 
Andrew  Jackson,  John  Forsyth,  William  Henry 
Harrison,  John  C.  Calhoun,  De  Witt  Clinton, 


66  WAX    PORTRAITS 

and  many  others.  Calhoun  wrote  to  Brown,  as 
quoted  in  his  book,  "I  take  pleasure  in  bearing 
testimony  to  your  great  aptitude  in  taking  like- 
nesses in  your  way." 

The  likeness  of  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke 
is  reproduced  from  Brown's  book,  for  we  are  so 
fortunate  as  to  have  a  copy  in  Boston  at  the  Public 
Library.  The  volume  is  well  worth  study,  and  has 
several  very  interesting  characteristics.  All  the 
silhouettes  face  to  the  right,  and  all  have  elabo- 
rate lithographed  backgrounds.  Daniel  Webster 
stands  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets ;  his  hair  and 
the  outline  of  his  clothes  are  touched  with  white. 
The  portrait  of  Bishop  White  has  an  interesting 
background  in  the  book,  though  the  copy  from 
which  our  illustration  is  taken  has  none.  The 
silhouette  of  Dr.  Thomas  Cooper,  who  was  a 
famous  South  Carolina  chemist,  shows  his  trou- 
sers tied  at  the  bottom,  so  that  they  have  the 
appearance  of  ruffles. 

Although  it  is  not  so  recorded,  Brown  must 
have  cut  the  silhouette  of  Dr.  Prince,  of  Salem, 


AND    SILHOUETTES  67 

and  you  can  feel  as  you  look  at  his  grim  face  that 
sinners  would  receive  short  shrift  if  they  relied 
upon  his  tender  mercies.  Salem,  indeed,  offered 
a  rich  harvest  for  Brown,  and  the  Essex  Institute 
there  has  many  examples  of  his  work,  which  in 
the  mass  are  exceedingly  clever.  In  1859,  when 
the  camera  finally  put  to  flight  this  more  human 
means  of  taking  likenesses,  Brown  dropped  his 
work  and  entered  the  employ  of  the  Huntington 
and  Broadtop  Railroad.  The  "last  of  the  silhou- 
ettists"  died  in  his  native  city,  Charleston,  on 
September  16,  1883,  and  with  him  ended  the  his- 
tory of  those  in  our  country  whose  work  is  known 
to  fame.  There  are,  however,  silhouettists  among 
us  still.  Some  thirty  years  ago,  at  one  of  the  fairs 
which  was  held  in  the  huge  building  of  the 
New  England  Manufacturers'  and  Mechanics' 
Association  in  Boston,  there  appeared  a  cutter 
who  was  very  skillful.  His  silhouettes  were  done 
with  the  scissors,  with  black  paper  in  duplicate, 
and  pasted  on  cards.  That  Mechanics'  Building, 
on  the  site  of  the  Huntington  Avenue  ballground, 


68  WAX    PORTRAITS 

was  burned  in  1886,  and  the  rivalry  between  it 
and  the  Massachusetts  Charitable  Mechanic 
Association  ceased;  the  great  fairs  then  came  to 
an  end,  and  the  silhouette  cutter  went  his  way. 
Within  the  past  ten  years,  James  H.  Pleasants, 
another  man  who  lives  by  the  magic  in  his  scissors, 
has  visited  Boston  and  plied  his  trade  in  an  art 
store  on  Boylston  Street.  But  the  silhouette  cutter 
comes  rarely  now,  and  the  reviving  "shadow 
picture"  is  made  by  mechanical  means,  either 
by  drawing  or  with  the  camera. 

Nearly  every  silhouettist  advertised  that  he 
would  sell  shades  of  famous  people  whom  he  had 
cut.  Edouart  and  Brown,  with  magic  in  their 
scissors  and  a  memory  that  was  phenomenal, 
could  make  duplicates  without  trouble.  It  was 
the  poor  artist  who  used  mechanical  aids  to  whom 
this  branch  of  his  work  brought  terror.  It  was 
easy  to  make  the  first  silhouette  with  a  machine, 
but  difficult  to  make  copies  in  number.  John  J. 
Hawkins,  a  London  silhouettist,  wrote  in  1803 
to  Charles  Willson  Peale  describing  his  method: 


AND    SILHOUETTES  69 

"I  have  made  great  improvements  in  the  art 
of  multiplying  Profiles.  I  take  any  paper  profile 
&  varnish  it  with  thick  shell  lac  varnish;  then 
lay  a  piece  of  paper  with  this  varnished  Profile 
on  it  in  the  brass  frame  in  which  the  profiles  are 
taken,  &  black  the  paper  thro  the  varnished  Pro- 
file on  to  the  other  paper.  The  brush  I  use  is  one 
of  the  softest  kind  of  common  painting  brushes, 
about  as  thick  as  my  finger,  the  hairs  are  tied  up 
very  tight  to  within  an  eighth  of  an  inch  of  the 
end,  &  the  end  is  then  cut  or  ground  quite  flat; 
a  more  elastic  brush  will  not  produce  so  perfect 
an  outline.  The  black  I  use  is  the  smoke  of  a 
candle,  received  on  a  metal  plate,  mixed  with 
glue  size  and  used  almost  dry,  for  if  there  is 
moisture  enough  to  pucker  the  paper  much,  the 
outline  will  be  ragged.  I  give  you  a  few  speci- 
mens in  this  letter.  I  often  cut  these  out  to  put 
them  on  black  glass."  He  enclosed  with  his  letter 
specimens  made  by  what  we  should  call  a  paper 
stencil,  and  also  others  made  by  a  different  kind 
of  stencil.    He  says  that  some  were  "etched 


70  WAX    PORTRAITS 

through  very  thin  brass ;  if  the  brass  is  not  as  thin 
as  paper  the  aqua  fortis  will  close  the  mouth  too 
much."  He  gives  seven  copies  of  one  exceedingly 
small  silhouette,  not  more  than  seven-sixteenths 
of  an  inch  in  height,  which  he  etched  from  thin 
silver.  The  stencil  is  such  a  commonplace  with 
us  in  these  modern  days  that  it  seems  strange 
that  it  should  be  necessary  to  explain  at  length 
such  a  simple  method. 

Many  of  the  older  cutters  advertised  their  work 
as  the  basis  of  illustration  for  books,  and  many 
examples  were  used  as  such.  Paul  Konewka,  a 
German,  in  his  short  life  of  thirty  years  made 
illustrative  silhouettes  for  Shakespeare's  plays. 
They  were  wonderfully  characteristic  and  those 
for  the  Midsummer  Night's  Dream  have  become 
famous.  He  died  in  1871,  but  the  fashion  he  set 
has  still  persisted  in  his  native  land,  for  there  is 
seldom  a  life  of  Schiller  or  Goethe  published 
now  which  is  not  illustrated  by  silhouettes.  In 
our  own  country  Howard  Pyle  used  the  silhou- 
ette very  effectively,   and  just  now  every  art 


UNKNOWN   MAN 
Augmte  Edouart 

OWNED   BY   DWIGHT   M.   PROUTY,  ESQ.,  BOSTON 


AND    SILHOUETTES  71 

journal  contains  illustrative  specimens  by  men 
and  women  who  are  again  using  this  kind  of 
illustration.  Brown's  silhouette  of  Chief  Justice 
Marshall  was  of  great  assistance  to  Story  in  mod- 
elling his  statue  for  the  Capitol  at  Washington ; 
and  now  the  reference  library  of  the  National 
Portrait  Gallery  in  London  is  collecting  silhou- 
ettes as  a  means  to  identify  unknown  portraits. 
Many  silhouettes  of  famous  men  are  hung  in  the 
galleries  abroad  for  their  great  value  as  likenesses. 
So  the  value  of  the  silhouette  is  coming  to  be 
more  and  more  recognized. 

And  thus  the  golden  days  of  wax  portraits  and 
silhouettes  passed  away ;  for  years  few  made  them, 
and  only  those  who  cared  for  heirlooms  treasured 
them.  Yet  as  we  study  them  their  charm  grows, 
and  we  wonder  what  our  generation  can  produce 
which  will  surpass  the  fascination  of  these  quaint 
portraits.  No  photographic  art,  however  high, 
can  supplant  the  genius  of  the  true  craftsman  in 
the  interpretation  of  personality. 


72  WAX    PORTRAITS 


A  RECORD  OF  WAX  PORTRAITS 

Wax  portraits  are  comparatively  so  few  in  number 
that  a  first  attempt  at  a  register  of  them  seems  feasible, 
and  it  is  well  to  preserve  a  brief  description  of  such  as 
remain  untouched  by  time.  They  are  all  profiles  ex- 
cept where  otherwise  noted. 

DR.  JAN  EECKHOUT 

Abraham  Chovet,  of  Philadelphia,  1704-1790. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  in  alto-relievo,  4$  inches  high;  on 
oval  slate  base,  5J  x  4I  inches.  There  is  a  reproduction  of  it  in 
Norris's  History  of  Medicine  in  Philadelphia,  p.  91,  which  shows 
two  hands  holding  a  book;  background,  to  right,  seven  shelves  filled 
with  books;  to  left,  a  window  with  a  curtain  in  three  festoons  above 
and  below  a  table  upon  which  is  a  skull.  In  1896  it  fell  from  its 
hanging  and  was  badly  fractured,  so  that  what  remains  are  the 
figure,  sans  chin  and  right  hand,  the  window  and  two  folds  of  the 
curtain  and  the  two  lowest  shelves  showing  three  books  on  each 
shelf.  Upon  the  back  of  the  slate  base  is  this  incised  inscription: 
"Doctor  M/halbraham/Chovet  born/  in  the  year  1704/  the  25  May/ 
Drawn  in  the  year  1784/  on  the  25  int  of  May  by/his  Servant  Dr/jan 
Eeckhout/."  This  important  inscription  has  been  incorrectly  given 
in  the  book  cited  and  by  several  others  who  have  followed  his 
authority  without  verification  by  the  original. 

Eminent  physician  of  Philadelphia.  Arrived  there  in  1770, 
from  Jamaica,  whither  he  had  gone  from  his  birthplace,  England,  and 
in  1774  delivered  the  first  public  lectures  on  Anatomy  and  Physiology 
given  in  this  country,  illustrated  by  wax  figures  that  he  made  himself. 

Mr.  Hart  says  nothing  is  known  of  "Dr.  jan  Eeckhout"  beyond 
his  name  on  this  wax  of  Dr.  Chovet,  the  orthography  of  which  indi- 
cates that  he  was  a  Hollander.  But  the  work  shows  that  he  was  an 
accomplished  modeller,  with  a  fine  artistic  sense  and  no  tyro  at  doing 
portrait  work.  It  is  one  of  the  most  elaborate  waxes  known,  full  of 
keen  expression  which  the  reproduction  mentioned  does  not  give,  the 
muscles  of  the  face  being  minutely  and  accurately  delineated,  while 
the  remaining  hand  exhibits  a  knowledge  of  artistic  anatomy  of  no 
mean  quality. 

Pennsylvania  Hospital,  Philadelphia. 


BISHOP  WILLIAM   WHITE,  OF  PHILADELPHIA 
William  Henry  Broivn 

GIVEN   BY   MRS.  WILLIAM   H.  WHITRIDGE,  BALTIMORE, 
TO  THE   MASSACHUSETTS  SOCIETY   OF  THE  COLONIAL  DAMES  OF  AMERICA 


AND    SILHOUETTES  73 


ROBERT  BALL  HUGHES 
President  William  Henry  Harrison,  1773-1841. 

White  wax,  faces  left,  low  relief;  robe  with  a  fur  collar  over 
the  shoulders.  Was  part  of  the  gallery  of  portraits  of  the  old 
Boston  Museum. 

Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts; 

Gift  of  Miss  Helen  F.  Kimball. 

Chief  Justice  John  Marshall,  1755-1835. 

White  wax,  full  length;  knee  breeches  and  old-fashioned  long 
coat;  the  hair  in  a  queue;  one  on  a  terra  cotta  background,  the  one 
in  New  York  unmounted.  The  story  is  that  there  were  six  copies  of 
this  wax ;  one  has  been  lost,  and  one  destroyed. 

Mrs.  Charles  Marshall,  Baltimore. 

Mr.  Douglas  H.  Thomas,  Baltimore. 

Association  of  the  Bar,  New  York ;  unmounted. 

Mary  Jane  (Miller)  Quincy,  of  Boston,  1806-1874. 

White  wax,  faces  left;  hair  dressed  high  behind  in  a  braid, 
two  curls  before  the  ear.  Dress  cut  low  with  a  button  on  the 
shoulder ;  mounted  on  red  velvet.  She  was  the  wife  of  Josiah  Quincy, 
mayor  of  Boston. 

Mrs.  Mary  Quincy  Thorndike,  Boston. 

Elizabeth  (Rotch)  Rodman,  1757-1856. 

White  wax,  faces  left;  cap,  ruffle  in  front,  band,  and  gathered 
back;  high  collar  with  two  ruffles;  shawl;  on  red  velvet  in  a  red 
leather  case. 

Mrs.  Dudley  L.  Pickman,  Boston. 

Miss  Emma  Rodman,  Nahant. 

Mrs.  George  Hussey,  New  Bedford. 

Samuel  Rodman,  of  New  Bedford,  1753-1835. 

White  wax,  faces  right ;  curly  hair ;  smooth  face. 
Mrs.  A.  Lawrence  Rotch,  Boston. 
Miss  Emma  Rodman,  Nahant. 
Mrs.  George  Hussey,  New  Bedford. 

Andrew  Robeson,  of  New  Bedford,  Mass.,  d.  1862. 

White  wax,  faces  left;  rather  long  hair  turned  up  in  a  curl, 
parted  very  much  on  the  side;  side  whiskers;  bare  neck;  mounted 
on  red  velvet. 

Mrs.  Andrew  Robeson,  Brookline,  Mass. 


74  WAX    PORTRAITS 

Anna  (Rodman)  Robeson,  1787-1848. 

White  wax,  faces  right;  hair  parted  and  drawn  over  ears; 
a  double  ruffled  cap,  turned  back  in  front,  tied  in  a  knot  over  the 
ears  and  hanging  in  folds.   Folds  around  the  neck.  Wife  of  the  above. 
Mrs.  Andrew  Robeson,  Brookline,  Mass. 

William  Rotch,  Sr.,  of  Nantucket,  1 734-1 828. 

White  wax,  faces  left;  top  of  head  bald;  hair  long  and 
straight;  nose  arched.  Called  "the  king  of  Nantucket."  A  Quaker, 
wore  his  hat  when  received  by  Louis  XVI. 

Mrs.  A.  Lawrence  Rotch,  Boston. 
Miss  Julia  Rodman,  New  Bedford. 

William  Rotch,  Jr.,  of  New  Bedford,  1759-1850. 

White  wax,  faces  left ;  hair  long,  and  follows  curve  of  neck ; 
thin  locks  over  forehead;  nose  arched  and  prominent;  eyebrows 
heavy ;  double  chin. 

Mrs.  A.  Lawrence  Rotch,  Boston. 
(2  copies,  one  somewhat  yellow.) 


JOHN   RANDOLPH,  OF   ROANOKE 
William  Henry  Broivn 


AND    SILHOUETTES  75 


GEORGE  M.  MILLER 

Albert  Gallatin,  1761-1849. 

Exhibited  at  Philadelphia  in  1813. 

Talbot  Hamilton. 

Exhibited  at  Philadelphia  in  1821. 

Adam  Kuhn,  of  Philadelphia,  1741-1817. 

White  wax,  faces  right;  z\  inches  high;  eyes  closed  and  from 
expression  evidently  taken  after  death. 

Eminent  physician  in  Philadelphia  and  President  of  the  Col- 
lege of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  Philadelphia. 

Mrs.  James  Madison,  1767-1849. 

Exhibited  at  Philadelphia  in  1813. 

Robert  Oliver,  of  Baltimore,  1759-1834. 

Colored  wax;  forehead  high,  with  hair  rolled  back  and  tied 
at  the  back  of  the  neck  with  a  black  bow ;  the  coat  has  a  high  turned- 
back  collar,  white  waistcoat  with  long  rolling  collar,  a  high  white 
linen  collar  and  stock.  His  features  are  handsome,  clean  shaven, 
and  well  executed.  Framed  in  black  and  gold.  On  the  back  is 
written 

"George  Miller,  Artist 

No.  172  North  Street 

Baltimore,  Md. 
January  26th,  18 10." 
Robert  Oliver  was  born  at  "Troopersfield,"  near  Lisburn,  County 
Antrim,  Ireland.    He  came  to  Baltimore  in   1783,   and  became  an 
exceedingly  prosperous  merchant. 

Miss  Fowler,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Bishop  William  White,  1747-1836. 

Exhibited  at  Philadelphia  in  1814. 

John  Wilcox,  1 789-1 826. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  2%  inches  high;  black  coat,  white 
vest  and  neckcloth;  brown  hair. 

Col.  Joseph  Wilcox,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


76  WAX    PORTRAITS 

William  Wilson. 

Colored  wax;  3  inches  high;  mounted  on  glass.  Signed 
"G.  M.  Miller,  1815." 

Joseph  Lapsley  Wilson,  Esq.,  Overbrook,  Pa. 

William  Wilson. 

Colored  wax;  3  inches  high;  mounted  on  plate.  Signed 
"G.  M.  Miller,  sculp.  1819." 

Joseph  L.  Wilson,  Esq.,  Overbrook,  Pa. 

Mrs.  Margaret  Wilson. 

Colored  wax;  3  inches  high.  "Wonderful  in  color  and  detail, 
but  somewhat  broken." 

Joseph  L.  Wilson,  Esq.,  Overbrook,  Pa. 

Unknown  Man. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  i\  inches  high;  blue  coat  and  white 
neckerchief;  white  hair.  On  the  slate  is  written:  "J.  Wephous 
Curiger  fecit  natu  1813."  Does  this  mean  a  portrait  of  Curiger 
made  from  life  in  1813? 

Bloomfield  Moore  Collection,  Memorial  Hall, 
Fairmount  Park,  Philadelphia. 


AND    SILHOUETTES  77 

JOHN  CHRISTIAN  RAUSCHNER 

Rev.  Thomas  Barnard,  of  Salem,  1748-1814. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  gown  and  bands;  black  hair  turned 
up  with  a  curl ;  pinkish  yellow  flesh,  gray  eyes.     Minister  of  the 
North  Church,  Salem,  1773-1814. 
Three  copies: 

Essex  Institute — somewhat  broken; 

North  Church — perfect. 

Dr.  John  Orne  Green,  Boston. 

William  Biglow,  1773-1844,  of  Salem,  Boston,  and  Natick. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  black  coat  and  white  stock;  brown 
hair  and  pink  flesh.    Done  in  1810.     He  was  a  preacher,  poet  and 
schoolmaster.    Bacon's  Natick  has  a  silhouette  of  him. 
Essex  Institute,  Salem. 

Benjamin  Bussey,  3D,  1781-1808. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  black  coat;  white  waistcoat,  frilled 
shirt  front,  collar,  and  neck-cloth;  blue  eyes;  hair  brown,  brushed 
forward,  and  tied  in  a  short  queue. 

Lawrence  Park,  Esq.,  Groton,  Mass. 

Elizabeth  Brown  Conover,  18 10. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  4$  inches  high,  showing  right  arm 
and  left  hand  over  it,  with  large  jewelled  ring  on  forefinger;  dark 
hair  and  eyes;  in  lace  cap  tied  at  top  with  bow  of  natural  ribbon; 
black  gown  with  long  sleeves  and  white  lace  bertha  with  three  tiers 
of  ruffles.  The  portraits  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Conover  are  owned  by  their 
great-great-great-granddaughter.  They  were  of  Dutch  extraction 
and  the  Holland  name  was  Couwenhoven. 

Mrs.  S.  Megargee  Wright,  Philadelphia. 

Joseph  Conover,  18 10. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  3$  inches  high;  black  coat  with  four 
large  brass  buttons;  high  black  vest  and  standing  white  collar,  and 
white  neckcloth;  hair  and  eyes  light  brown. 

Mrs.  S.  Megargee  Wright,  Philadelphia. 

Benjamin  Daland,  of  Salem,  1807-1841. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right.  About  twenty-five  to  thirty  years  old. 
Essex  Institute,  Salem,  Mass. 


78 


WAX    PORTRAITS 


Thomas  Dawes,  1783-1828. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left ;  white  stock. 

Mrs.  Arthur  O.  Fuller,  Cambridge. 

Lucy  (Lord)   (Staniford)  Dutch,  of  Salem,  1765-1846. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  white  muslin  dress,  cap  of  real  lace 
and  guimpe  of  lace;  hands  crossed. 

Mrs.  Frances  Gilman,  Portland,  Me. 
Mould  for  this  portrait  owned  by 

Thomas  Todd,  Esq.,  Concord,  Mass. 
Warren  Safford,  Esq.,  Hudson,  Mass. 

Rev.  Asa  Eaton,  of  Boston,  177 8-1 8  5 6. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  black  hair;  surplice,  black  stole  and 
high  stock;  mounted  on  red  velvet. 

Christ  Church,  Salem  Street,  Boston. 

Ebenezer  Eaton,  of  Boston,  1767-1829. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;   black  coat,  white  waistcoat,  frill, 
and  stock;  hair  brushed  forward,  queue  tied  with  a  bow.    He  built 
"Eaton's  folly,"  a  great  brick  dwelling  on  Eaton  Street,  Boston. 
A.  P.  Baker,  Esq.,  Boston. 

Joseph  Eaton,  of  Boston,  1774-1809. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  black  coat,  white  stock,  waistcoat  and 
tie;  brown  hair,  brushed  toward  the  front,  slight  side  whiskers; 
rather  pale  complexion;  high  eyebrows;  a  very  handsome  young 
man. 

Miss  Lucy  Eaton,  Boston. 

Mary  (Allen)  Eaton,  of  Boston,  1777-1818. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  white  dress  with  lace  frill  around 
the  neck;  turban;  hair  brushed  forward  in  an  irregular  bang; 
pearl  ring  on  forefinger,  and  a  pink  rose  in  the  hand ;  long  earrings. 
She  sits  in  a  black  Chippendale  chair,  with  mother  of  pearl  orna- 
ments.   She  has  great  dignity  of  pose. 

A.  P.  Baker,  Esq.,  Boston. 

David  Forst,  of  Philadelphia. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  brown  hair  and  queue;  front  hair 
brushed  forward  and  curled  back;  black  coat,  white  stock  and 
waistcoat;  brown  eyes,  long  face,  hook  nose,  long  chin  and  straight 


REV.   DR.  JOHN   PRINCE,  OF  SALEM 
William  Henry  Brown 

OWNED   BY   MISS   CLARA   ENDICOTT  SEARS,   BOSTON 


AND    SILHOUETTES  79 

mouth;  distinct  wrinkles  at  the  corners  of  the  mouth.     Originally 
mounted  on  sage  green  silk. 

Henry  Pinner  Curtis,  Newton,  Mass. 

Richea  (Luria)  Forst,  of  Philadelphia. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  black  hair,  brushed  back,  and  done 
in  a  psyche  knot;  a  tortoise-shell  comb  holds  back  a  curl  that  falls 
before  the  ear;  brown  dress,  with  puffed  sleeves  and  shirred  waist; 
brown  girdle;  white  lace,  now  brown,  tucker,  formerly  held  by  a 
brooch  at  the  neck;  gold  hoop  earrings;  sallow  complexion,  long 
face,  black  eyes,  and  very  red  lips.  Originally  mounted  on  sage 
green  silk.    Her  mother  was  Araguina  Luria. 

Henry  Pinner  Curtis,  Newton,  Mass. 

Colonel  Daniel  Lewis  Gibbens,  of  Boston,  1786-1853. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  black  dress  coat,  white  stock,  lace 
frill  missing;  reddish  brown  hair,  cut  short,  short  side  whiskers; 
fair  complexion,  blue  eyes. 

Joseph  McKean  Gibbons,  Jamaica  Plain. 

Mary  (King)  Gibbens,  1789-1817. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  dotted  muslin  dress,  with  wax  lace 
around  the  sleeve  and  a  double  rufHe  around  the  square-cut  neck. 
Brown  hair  dressed  high  with  a  comb  of  shell  and  seed  pearls;  curls 
in  the  neck  and  on  the  forehead ;  hoop  earrings,  blue  eyes,  and  a  ring 
with  pearls  all  around  on  the  left  forefinger.    Beautiful  flesh  tints. 

Mrs.  Mary  King  Lee- Warner,  London,  formerly 
owned  by  Mrs.  Annie  Frobisher  Wildman, 
Newton,  Mass. 

Catherine  (Comerford)  (Hillier)  Graupner,  i769?-i82i. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  plain  white  dress  with  wax  lace  at 
neck  and  sleeves.  Brown  hair,  dressed  in  curls  with  two  gold  combs, 
one  bordered  with  seed  pearls.  Hands  clasped  with  large  ring  on 
right  forefinger.  Earrings  in  daisy  pattern  of  seed  pearls  and  gold. 
A  most  stiff  and  haughty  dame.  She  was  born  in  London,  England, 
and  became  an  opera  singer  of  note  as  Mrs.  Heelyer.  She  married 
her  second  husband,  Mr.  Graupner,  in  Charleston,  S.  C. 

Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts; 

Gift  of  Miss  Louise  C.  D.  Stoddard. 

Johann  Christian  Gottlieb  Graupner,  of  Boston,  1767-1836. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  black  coat,  with  metal  buttons, 
white  stock,  tie  and  inner  vest  yellow;  pink  complexion,  gray  hair 


80  WAX    PORTRAITS 


brushed  forward  and  tied  in  a  queue.  He  was  a  player  of  the  oboe, 
but  could  perform  on  any  instrument.  He  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Handel  and  Haydn  Society. 

Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts; 

Gift  of  Miss  Louise  C.  D.  Stoddard. 

Oliver  Holden,  of  Charlestown,  Mass.,  1765-1844. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  black  coat,  white  stock;  gray-black 
hair. 

Frank  J.  Lawton,  Esq.,  Shirley,  Mass. 

Hannah  Paschall  Hollings worth,  of  Philadelphia,  1744-. 

Colored  wax;  gray  dress,  thin  white  shawl;  very  thin  cap  of 
white  muslin  showing  her  hair  and  ear,  tied  under  the  chin  and  at 
the  back  with  a  little  bow;  hair  brown,  clear  complexion. 

Miss  Catharine  W.  Morris,  Harriton,  Bryn 
Mawr,  Pa. 

Levi  Hollingsworth,  of  Philadelphia,  1739-1824. 

Colored  wax;  gray  coat,  and  vest  a  shade  darker;  red  cravat 
with  white  dots,  white  stock;  iron  gray  hair,  worn  long,  head  slightly 
bald;  complexion  fair,  clean  shaven,  heavy  eyebrows;  clear-cut  face 
with  much  character.  Born  in  Cecil  Co.,  Maryland.  Both  the  Hol- 
lingsworth waxes  have  upon  the  back,  written  in  ink, 
"Rauschner  fee. 

Chatham  Street 
No.  41 
New  York" 

Miss  Catharine  W.  Morris,  Harriton,  Bryn 
Mawr,  Pa. 

Leonard  Kip,  of  Kips  Bay,  New  York,  1768-1843. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  black  coat,  white  stock;  black  hair. 
Leonard  Kip  Storrs,  D.D.,  Brookline,  Mass. 

Governor  John  Lambert,  of  Amwell,  New  Jersey,  1746-1823. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  high  forehead,  heavy  eyebrows, 
nose  somewhat  turned  up,  a  strong  mouth  and  chin.  Black  coat, 
white  stock  and  tie.  Two  copies,  one  of  which  was  presented  to 
Governor  Bloomfield. 

Jerusha  Lambert  Shoemaker. 

Thomas  Seabrook,  Passaic,  N.  J. 


2  S 

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•co  S:  h 

«  J*-  2 

i  a  > 

1 1-  s 

s  * 


AND    SILHOUETTES  8l 


Daniel  Lang,  of  Salem,  1784-1826. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  black  coat,  white  stock;  black  hair; 
resembles  his  father. 

Essex  Institute,  Salem. 

Dolly  (Wood)  Lang,  of  Salem,  1784-1867. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  white  dotted  muslin  dress,  with 
guimpe  of  white  lace  put  on;  earrings,  jewelled  comb  in  her  brown 
hair,  and  curl  in  front  of  her  ear;  blue  flower  on  breast;  flesh  very 
white. 

Essex  Institute,  Salem. 

Hannah  Lang,  of  Salem,  1782-1845. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  white  dotted  muslin  dress,  gathered 
guimpe;  black  hair,  with  curls  on  forehead,  and  comb;  hoop  ear- 
rings ;  looks  like  her  father. 

Essex  Institute,  Salem. 

Nathaniel  Lang,  of  Salem,  1757-1824. 

One  of  a  group  of  five  comprising  himself,  his  wife  and  three 
children.    Done  in  1810. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;   black  coat,  brown  waistcoat,  and 
white  stock ;  queue  of  black  hair,  pink  flesh,  and  high  hooked  nose. 
Essex  Institute,  Salem. 

Nathaniel  Lang,  Jr.,  of  Salem,  1780-1851. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  brown  coat;  brown  hair,  pink  flesh; 
rather  stout,  looks  like  his  mother. 

Essex  Institute,  Salem. 

Governor  Levi  Lincoln,  1 749-1 820. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  black  coat,  high  collar,  white  stock, 
ruffled  shirt;  bald  on  the  forehead  and  on  top  of  his  head,  grayish 
hair  and  blue  eyes. 

Waldo  Lincoln,  Esq.,  Worcester,  Mass. 

James  Smith  Lovell,  of  Boston,  1762-1826. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  coat  yellow  gray;  high  white  stock 
and  collar,  white  waistcoat  and  ruffled  shirt;  short  powdered  hair; 
gray  eyes.    Two  copies. 

Miss  Emma  Lovell  Loring,  Brookline,  Mass. 

Mansfield  Lovell,  Esq.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


82  WAX    PORTRAITS 

Richard  Lush,  of  Manlius,  New  York. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  brown  coat,  white  stock  and  long 
white  tie;  snub  nose,  bald  head,  and  hair  hanging  over  coat.  In 
small  round  black  frame. 

Mrs.  Henry  Ware,  Brookline,  Mass. 

Colonel  Benjamin  Pickman,  of  Salem. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  brown  hair  touched  with  gray,  queue; 
frill  of  lace  in  front,  stock,  black  coat  retouched ;  beautifully  done. 
Essex  Institute,  Salem. 

John  Pierce,  of  Dorchester,  Mass. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  dark  clothes  in  high  relief;  poor 
condition,  remounted  on  paper. 

Miss  Mary  Patterson,  Boston. 

Nancy  (Bates)  Pierce,  of  Boston. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  dotted  muslin  dress;  rose  in  hand; 
rings;  front  and  back  comb  with  seed  pearls;  brown  hair  in  a  ban- 
deau; brown  eyes. 

Miss  Mary  Patterson,  Boston. 

Judge  Joseph  Read,  of  Burlington  and  Mount  Holly,  N.  J. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  black  coat,  with  buttonholes  showing; 
white  frill  and  stock;  a  large  man,  with  slightly  hooked  nose,  promi- 
nent chin,  and  full  over  the  eyes;  straight  reddish  gray  hair,  slightly 
long  behind.  There  is  a  family  tradition  that  they  were  done  by 
Miss  Julia  Latrobe  of  Baltimore,  but  are  in  the  manner  of  Rauschner. 
Mounted  on  black  velvet. 

Rev.  W.  G.  Read,  Brighton,  Mass. 

General  Samuel  Joseph  Read,  of  Mount  Holly,  N.  J. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  black  coat  with  h'gh  collar;  white 
waistcoat,  white  stock ;  sandy  gray  hair  tied  with  black ;  curls  back 
of  the  ear,  and  short  side  whiskers;  complexion  dark;  full  over  the 
eyes;  well-shaped  nose;  mounted  on  black  glass.  Also  attributed  to 
Miss  Latrobe,  but  more  like  Rauschner  than  that  of  Judge  Read. 
Rev.  W.  G.  Read,  Brighton,  Mass. 

Aaron  Storck,  of  Holland. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  3$  inches  high;  black  coat,  white 
standing  collar  and  large  white  neckerchief;  yellowish  white  hair, 
and  dark  eyes.    Mr.  and  Mrs.  Storck  were  the  parents  of  Mr.  Hart's 


AND    SILHOUETTES  83 

paternal  grandmother;  they  visited  this  country  in  1810,  and  re- 
turned to  Holland  the  following  year. 

Charles  Henry  Hart,  Esq.,  Philadelphia. 

Jeannette  Storck,  of  Holland. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  4$  inches  high;  showing  right  arm, 
and  left  hand  over  it,  with  large  jewelled  ring  on  forefinger;  dark 
hair  and  eyes;  lace  cap  trimmed  with  real  silk  ribbon,  tied  in  a  bow 
at  the  top  and  another  at  the  bottom  behind  the  head ;  white  dotted 
gown,  low  neck  and  short  sleeves,  with  thin  white  neckerchief;  gold 
necklace  and  pearl  earrings. 

Charles  Henry  Hart,  Esq.,  Philadelphia. 

Governor  Caleb  Strong,  1745-1819. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  black  coat,  white  stock;  gray  hair; 
mounted  on  black  felt,  unframed;  has  been  exposed  to  the  air  and 
has  shrunk  and  yellowed. 

Dennison  R.  Slade,  Esq.,  Chestnut  Hill,  Mass. 

Governor  James  Sullivan,  1744-1808. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  black  coat,  white  tie  and  cravat, 
hair  and  wig  white. 

American  Antiquarian  Society,  Worcester,  Mass. 

State  House,  Boston. 

Mrs.  John  Langdon  Sullivan,  Boston. 

Mrs.  Alexander  Cochrane,  Boston. 

Ingersoll  Amory,  Esq.,  Boston. 

Miss  E.  M.  Flagg,  Roxbury,  Mass. 

Elizabeth  (Hubbard)  Sumner,  1770-1839. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  cap,  very  transparent  so  that  the  hair 
shows  through,  with  insertion  across  front  and  a  ruffle  all  around; 
short-waisted  black  gown,  with  white  girdle  and  white  kerchief 
clasped  with  an  oval  brooch  of  eight  seed  pearls.  Her  clasped  arms 
do  not  show  as  in  most  of  Rauschner's  portraits  of  ladies. 

Mrs.  Walter  G.  Horton,  Brookline,  Mass. 

Thomas  Waldron  Sumner,  1768-1849. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  brown  hair,  brushed  to  the  front 
with  a  bang,  and  short  queue  behind;  black  coat,  white  stock,  neck- 
cloth, and  waistcoat. 

Mrs.  Walter  G.  Horton,  Brookline,  Mass. 


84  WAX    PORTRAITS 

Henry  Tolman,  of  Boston,  1781-. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  black  coat,  tall  white  collar  and 
cravat;  red  hair.    The  portraits  were  made  in  1805. 

Henry  Tolman,  Esq.,  Newton,  Mass. 

Lydia  (Park)  Tolman,  of  Boston,  1787-. 

Colored  wax;  faces  right;  white  dotted  muslin  dress,  high 
waist,  puffed  and  long  sleeves;  hands  crossed  in  her  lap;  she  is 
seated  in  a  chair;  hair  done  high;  a  frill  around  her  neck.  Originally 
she  had  a  high  comb,  and  gold  beads  around  her  neck.  These  became 
broken,  and  a  ruff  was  substituted  by  a  man  who  claimed  to  be  the 
grandson  of  the  maker. 

Henry  Tolman,  Esq.,  Newton,  Mass. 

Captain  Luther  Trowbridge,  of  Albany,  1756-1845. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  hair  in  a  queue;  dark  coat,  with  5 
buttons;  white  stock  and  ruffle. 

Rev.  Ephraim  Ward,  of  West  Brookfield,  1741-1818. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  rather  bald,  with  white  hair  in  a 
roll  behind;  ministerial  robe,  high  stock  and  bands;  a  long  face  and 
strong  chin. 

Clayton  C.  Hall,  Esq.,  Baltimore. 

Mary  (Coleman)  Ward,  of  West  Brookfield,  1744-1809. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  a  cap  bordered  with  fine  lace,  and 
a  flower  on  top;  turned  over  lace  collar,  white  guimpe,  and  a  satin 
gown  with  slashed  sleeves;  a  ring  on  her  finger,  and  a  pin  at  the  side 
of  her  cap;  fine,  strong  features. 

Clayton  C.  Hall,  Esq.,  Baltimore. 

William  Henry  Whiting,  of  Hartford,  Conn. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  dark  brown  hair  and  "burnsides"; 
eyes  dark  brown;  broad,  rather  low,  forehead,  high  cheek  bones, 
small  mouth,  rounded  chin;  nose  repaired  by  Miss  Mundy;  black 
coat,  white  stock  and  frill.    New  background. 

Mrs.  I.  W.  Metcalf,  Oberlin,  O. 

Eunice  (Farley)  Whitney,  of  Beverly,  Mass.,  1757-1809. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  black  widow's  dress,  black  fringe 
over  arm,  long  sleeves;  high  white  neckerchief;  widow's  cap,  the 


AND    SILHOUETTES  85 

back  of  wax,  with  a  white  tarleton  ruffle,  knife-plaited,  tied  with  a 
black  ribbon  in  a  bow  behind ;  the  hands  do  not  show. 

Miss  Augusta  Lamb,  Brookline,  Mass. 

Captain  Nathan  Winship,  of  Boston. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  black  coat,  high  white  stock,  white 
tie  and  frill;  brunette  complexion;  very  finely  done. 
Dwight  M.  Prouty,  Esq.,  Boston. 

Mildred  (Gilmer)  Wirt,  of  Virginia,  d.  1839. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  white  lace  guimpe,  low  black  gown, 
showing  neck  and  arms;  hair  dark,  arranged  high  upon  her  head; 
eyes  dark. 

Mrs.  William  H.  Whitridge,  Baltimore,  Md. 

William  Wirt,  of  Bladensburg,  Md.,  1772-18  34. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  blue  coat,  white  stock;  dark  hair 
and  eyes. 

Mrs.  William  H.  Whitridge,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Unknown  Man. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  very  high  relief;  black  coat,  white 
shirt  and  vest;  face  has  pasty  complexion  and  is  very  flat,  with  fat 
cheeks  and  high  cheek  bones. 

Dwight  M.  Prouty,  Esq.,  Boston. 


RACHEL  WELLS 

Rev.  George  Whitefield,  1714-1770. 

Mrs.  Wells,  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Patience  Wright,  is  said  to  have 
made  a  portrait  in  wax,  given  to  Bethesda  College.  (Lee's  Diet. 
Nat.  Biog.  lxi.  p.  92.)    See  also  Colon.  Soc.  of  Mass.  Dec.  1906,  p.  30. 


86  WAX    PORTRAITS 


JOSEPH  WRIGHT 

George  Washington,  1732-1799. 

White  wax,  faces  right;  hair  drawn  back,  and  tied  with  a  bow 
behind;  laurel  wreath;  5x6  inches.  Signed  "J.  Wright,  fecit." 
Made  in  1784.  A  copy  of  this  profile,  life-size,  reversed,  in  plaster 
of  Paris,  hung  in  Washington's  library  at  Mount  Vernon,  and  now 
belongs  to  General  Custis  Lee.  Washington  further  showed  his 
esteem  for  Wright  by  appointing  him  the  first  engraver  and  die- 
sinker  in  the  mint,  which  position  he  held  at  the  time  of  his  death. 
Reproduced  in  Mr.  Hart's  "Life  Portraits  of  George  Washington," 
McClure's  Magazine,  February,  1897,  p.  295. 

Benjamin  R.  Smith,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


PATIENCE  WRIGHT 

William  Augustus  Atlee,  of  Philadelphia,  1735-1793. 

Full  bust  to  right;  ii  inches  high;  curled  hair;  reproduced  in 
Barber's  History  of  the  Atlee  Family,  1884,  at  which  time  it  was 
owned  by  Dr.  John  Light  Atlee,  of  Lancaster,  Pa.  Associate  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania  from  1777  to  1791.  As  Judge 
Atlee  married  a  New  Jersey  woman  at  Elizabethtown  in  1763,  his 
profile  doubtless  is  the  work  of  Patience  Wright. 
Walter  Atlee,  Washington. 

Benjamin  Franklin,  1706-1790. 

Black  wax,  faces  left;  long  hair.    Reproduced  by  Wedgwood. 
Charles  S.  Bradford,  Esq.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

George  Washington,  1732-1799. 

White  wax,  faces  right;  in  uniform. 

Dr.  Richard  H.  Harte,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania.    Broken. 

Rev.  George  Whitefield,  1714-1770. 

A  wax  portrait.     (Lee's  Diet.  Nat.  Biog.  lxi.  p.  92.)     Mr. 
Albert  Matthews  brought  this  portrait  to  my  attention. 


AND    SILHOUETTES  87 


UNKNOWN  ARTISTS 

Queen  Anne  of  England,  1665-1714. 
Moulded  white  wax,  facing  left. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Whitridge,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Bishop  John  Carroll,  1735-1817. 

Three  by  five  inches.  Brownish  in  tone,  faces  left;  dressed 
in  robes,  with  insignia  of  office  around  his  neck.  He  was  the  first 
Roman  Catholic  Bishop  of  Maryland,  and  was  made  Archbishop 
in  1815. 

Maryland  Historical  Society. 

Princess  Charlotte,  Daughter  of  George  IV,  1796-1817. 
Moulded  pink  wax,  facing  right. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Whitridge,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Captain  Charles  Edward  Coffin,  of'Nantucket,  1814-1883. 
Wax  profile  made  in  Bordeaux,  France,  1850-1855. 
Mrs.  John  Morrisey,  Jr.,  Baltimore. 

Charles  James  Fox,  Sr.,  1749-1806. 

Moulded  white  wax,  facing  left. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Whitridge,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Mrs.  Margaret  (Caldwell)  McHenry,  1761-1833. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  white  cap,  tied  around  the  head  and 
under  the  chin;  white  kerchief;  black  silk  dress;  seated  in  a  red 
armchair;  eyes  and  hair  dark;  complexion  florid;  four  and  one-half 
inches  high. 

Mrs.  R.  Brent  Keyser,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Captain  Samuel  Swett,  of  Newburyport,  married  1799. 

Portrait  made  in  Antwerp. 

Colored  wax;  smooth  face,  with  short  side  whiskers,  and  dark 
hair;  black  coat,  white  waistcoat,  high  white  stock.  On  a  warm  gray 
background. 

Mrs.  Robert  L.  Harris,  Portsmouth,  N.  H. 


WAX    PORTRAITS 


Unknown  Man,  Stuart  Period. 

Colored  wax,  faces  right;  black  cloak,  white  ruff,  black  hat 
turned  up  at  the  side  with  a  brooch  of  seed  pearls,  and  plumes. 
Black  hair,  mustache  and  beard,  black  eyes;  skin  very  pink  with  no 
shadings.  Mounted  on  black  glass,  very  low  relief;  about  two  inches 
high. 

Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts ; 

Lent  by  Mrs.  T.  O.  Richardson. 

Unknown  Woman,  Stuart  Period. 

Evidently  the  wife  of  the  man  above.  Colored  wax,  faces 
front;  brown  dress  with  a  garniture  around  the  neck  of  three  rows 
of  seed  pearls,  and  two  rows  of  double  pearls  as  a  pendant.  The 
sleeves  are  puffed.  Within  the  row  of  pearls  is  some  beautifully 
modelled  lace.  Brown  hair  brushed  pompadour,  and  a  high  fan  ruff 
behind  the  head,  made  of  wax  lace.  A  necklace  of  seed  pearls  with 
a  cross-like  pendant.    Earrings.    Flesh  pink  as  above. 

Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts; 

Lent  by  Mrs.  T.  O.  Richardson. 

Unknown. 

Pink  wax,  faces  left. 

Maryland  Historical  Society. 


NOTES 

Page  43 — Williams 

Mr.  Horace  W.  Sellers  writes  that  this  was  probably  Moses 
Williams,  the  Negro  servant  of  his  great-grandfather,  C.  W.  Peale, 
who  cut  with  John  Hawkins's  invention,  "the  physiognotrace," 
8,880  profiles  in  one  year  (1802),  using  a  half  sheet  of  paper  folded 
to  make  four  profiles  at  once.  The  inner  parts  he  called  his  "block- 
heads," and  these  he  kept.    He  was  born  about  1775. 

Jonathan  Allen,  1773-1845. 

Colored  wax,  faces  left;  black  coat,  white  stock  and  shirt 
front;  black  short  hair,  brown  eyes. 

Jane  C.  Crawford,  Davenport,  Iowa. 


T.  Todd  Co.,  Printers 


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